


Oblivion

by IslandOnce



Series: Quests of the Nine [1]
Category: TWICE (Band)
Genre: Badass Sana, Blacksmith Jeongyeon, College Chaeyoung, College Tzuyu, Evil Nayeon, F/F, Fantasy AU, Magic, Skyrim - Freeform, Skyrim AU that absolutely nobody asked for, Smart Momo, Sneaky Dahyun, Sneaky Jihyo, Supernatural - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-07
Updated: 2019-02-23
Packaged: 2019-05-19 04:44:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 38,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14866836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IslandOnce/pseuds/IslandOnce
Summary: The lives of nine become intertwined when dragons return from extinction.





	1. Whiterun

**Author's Note:**

> I realize that not everyone will know all the aspects of Skyrim. So if you have any questions please ask.

Her routine: Wake up, put on her work dress, make her way down the wooden stairs of her home, grab two apples from the kitchen and head out the door to the shop. She would always eat one apple on the way and set the other one down on the barrel outside the entrance to the shop.

 

The sign above was swaying in the light breeze, displaying "War Madien" on the engraved piece of wood. She had made as a gift for her uncle to replace the old sign. He had been so impressed with 14-year-old Jeongeyon. Her father not so much.

 

“Jeongyeon, why don’t you go play with the other kids instead of spending all your time around that hot forge.”

 

He never understood then. He still doesn’t, even now.

 

She grabbed her blacksmith apron hanging on the wall inside, tying the strings around her waist before taking her hammer and tongs from the tool rack and heading outside to the furnace.

 

she threw some charcoal into the still hot furnace, pulled up and down on the chain connected to the large bellow and tossed in a few steel ingots when the furnace was hot enough, bringing the metal to working temperature. Once the metal is to her liking, she pulls it out with her tongs and brings it over to the anvil where she starts hammering the metal over and over again until it grows cold.

 

Heat.

 

Hammer.

 

Heat.

 

Hammer.

 

”Excuse me?”

 

Jeongyeon’s routine is disrupted by a passerby. She is slightly shorter than Jeongeyon with pale skin and long black hair that passes her shoulders. She was definitely younger then Jeongeyon. The woman must be a foreigner, she’s not someone Jeongeyon immediately recognized like the residents of Whiterun.

 

“What can I help you with?” Jeongyeon set the hot metal aside to let it cool.

 

”Do you know where an apothecary is? My friend is sick and needs some medicine.” The woman told Jeongyeon. Jeongeyon gestures for the young woman to follow her and walks out into the street in front of her shop.

 

”Alright. If you just continue down this street you will eventually come to the well in the middle of the plaza,” Jeongyeon points down the street. “There are three big buildings: the Bannered Mare will be directly in front of you, the building on your right will be Heechul’s Goods and the building between the two is Bae’s Cauldron. That’s where you’re going to find the city apothecary.” Jeongyeon finishes her instructions with a smile. The young woman bows in thanks and heads in the direction with a thank you.

 

Back to work.

 

Jeongyeon grabs the sword she had been working on, taking it to the grindstone near the front of the store. She pushed down on the pedal making the wheel spin. Sparks go flying when she slides the metal against the spinning stone.

 

Slide.

 

Sparks.

 

Flip.

 

Slide.

 

Sparks.

 

Flip.

 

One more slide of the sword across the grindstone and she is satisfied with the result. Standing up, Jeongyeon heads back to the furnace to temper and harden the blade.

 

She begins by bringing the blade to an even heat in the furnace, then carefully submerges it in hot oil for a few seconds. When she pulls it out, she looks for any warping in the metal then clamps the blade straight up and down, a trick her uncle had taught her, to keep the blade straight while it cooled.

 

Jeongyeon stretched her back, hearing a few cracks, then moves back to the forge to get started on the guard and pommel. She grabbed a leftover chunk of steel from her pile and brings it up to temperature in the furnace, then moves to the anvil and begins pounding the metal to shape.

 

Heat.

 

Hammer.

 

Heat.

 

Hammer.

 

once she is satisfied with the shape of the guard she moves on to the pommel.

 

Heat.

 

Hammer.

 

Heat.

 

Hammer.

 

”Thank you again!”

 

A voice breaks Jeongyeon from her trance. She looks up and over her shoulder to see the young woman from earlier walking by with a sack full of potions. Jeongeyon just smiles and nods her head in acknowledgment.

 

After a few more hits, she sets down her hammer and wipes the sweat dripping from her brow. She returns to the blade that was now cool enough to handle. The metal, being extremely fragile during this stage, is once again submerged in the hot oil but instead of pulling the blade out right away, Jeongyeon leaves the blade in the hot oil bath. She grabs her other apple and walks over to lean against the beam right outside the store to wait and talk with customers;

 

“Got some good pieces out here if you’re looking to buy. More inside.”

 

“Don’t forget to check inside the shop if you need anything.”

 

“Thanks for the business.”

 

Jeongyeon checks the position of the sun and decides it’s been long enough. She pulls the sword out of the hot oil and adjusts any warping on the blade. She clamped the sword straight up and down to let it cool once more. Jeongyeon starts on the handle of the sword by going inside the shop and to the back room where she keeps her wood for the sword handles.

 

She grabbed a piece of strong oak and brought it to her chiseling table. She chips at the wood until it is hollow, then heads back outside to the grindstone to sand the wood to shape. On the way she makes sure to take her leather, she had stained darker the previous day, with her.

 

Jeongyeon slides the guard over the tang then burns the handle onto the sword. She twists the pommel onto the end of the sword after she had wrapped the handle with the leather strips and takes one last look at the weapon. Being happy with the results of her hard work, she hangs it up on the outside weapons rack with all the others.

 

Jeongyeon has been making swords since she was 12 years old. Smithing was in her blood.

 

Her father wanted her to stay at home, learn how to cook, clean, take care of the family until she had one of her own to tend to. Jeongeyon didn’t want that kind of life. She wanted to make her own decisions, not let some old soldier tell her when she should make him a meal.

 

“You guards are useless!”

 

“Calm down miss Bae and tell us what is wrong.”

 

“What’s wrong? What’s wrong!”

 

Yelling from the marketplace broke Jeongyeon out of her thoughts. Curious about what all the commotion was about Jeongeyon quickly made her way up the street towards the plaza.

 

“Miss Bae, please stop yelling in my face.” The guard in the middle of the plaza towered over a woman.

 

“You guards are supposed to prevent petty theft and crimes but if you take a look inside my shop you would see how almost everything is missing!” Bae Joohyun may be tiny, but she was scary when she was pissed off.

 

“You were probably too busy drinking mead behind Dragons Reach to notice any crime going on! Even if it was happening right in front of you!”

 

She had them there, Jeongeyon couldn’t count the number of time she’s seen the guards around here trying to sneak a sip on the job.

 

“Who was the last person inside the shop miss Bae?” The guard tried to get through to the fuming woman pacing in front of her shop.

 

“I was, today was slow. The only people that came in today were LE and Hyerin looking for hangover cures. And that was this morning.”

 

That’s weird. Didn’t Jeongeyon just help a woman find Joohyun’s shop? Wait. She couldn’t have. She was helping a friend who was sick. But wouldn’t it have been smarter to bring her sick friend with her? Jeongyeon was starting to assume that there was no sick friend and that she helped point a thief to their next target.

 

“Think I know who did this,” Jeongeyon spoke up from the crowd that had formed.

 

“Who”

 

Both the guards and Joohyun asked at the same time (Joohyun more aggressively of course).

 

“Earlier today, a woman from out of town came up to me asking for directions to the apothecary. saying that she had a sick friend who needed medicine.” She told the guards. She then turns to Joohyun. “ but when you said nobody besides LE and Hyerin had come in I was confused. I even saw her leaving with a sack full of potions so I just assumed you helped her out.”

 

The crowd had gone silent as Jeongyeon finished speaking.

 

“Do you remember when she left?” One of the guards asked her.

 

“At least an hour ago,” Jeongyeon tells him. She turned to Joohyun and gave her an apologetic face. the small woman just nodded back.

 

“Do you remember what she looked like?” Another guard had walked up to her.

 

Jeongeyon thought about the women but didn’t remember anything suspicious in the way she interacted with her. A practiced thief.

 

“She had pale skin and long dark hair that went past her shoulders. Umm... she wasn’t tall but she wasn’t short.” Joohyun gave her a dirty look when she said short. “She wore leather. Boots, coat, gloves.”

 

“Anything else? Scars? Warpaint?” The guard asked.

 

“Hmm... no scars. She had extremely fair skin. No war paint either.”

 

“Alright. Thank you miss Yoo, we will be keeping an eye out for anyone fitting that description.” The guards left to inform the rest of the Whiterun guard of this suspect. Joohyun angrily kicked a rock in the plaza then turned and went back inside her shop mumbling under her breath while the rest of the crowd started to disburse. Jeongeyon sighed.

 

“Back to the routine.”


	2. The Rift

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meeting the Dubu and God Jihyo.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realize that not everyone will know all the aspects of the game Skyrim. So if you have any questions please ask.

 

 

Dahyun had made it all the way to the Whiterun stables before she started breaking out into a fit of giggles. That was one of her smoothest burglaries to date.

 

Sneaking into that potions shop from the backdoor proved how much better she’s gotten at lockpicking. To bad Jihyo wasn’t there to hear how that lock just popped right open.

 

Oh. Jihyo right.

 

She better get these potions to her partner in crime, literally, before she gets caught. Dahyun wasn’t lying when she told that nice blacksmith lady with the short hair that she needed medicine for her friend.

 

She and Jihyo ran into a little trouble on the way back from a job in Riverwood. Bandits had set up an ambush site for travelers. Caravans traveling from Solitude to Whiterun, filled with food and gold, would be driving through the mountainside one minute then next thing they know the driver has four arrows sticking out of his chest.

 

 

~~~

 

 

Dahyun and Jihyo were coming back from a shill job. They had placed a client’s ring as evidence inside a wealthy home and informed the authorities of said item, then skipped town. It couldn’t have gone better. Dahyun was happy to get out of Riften and see the countryside. She even got to go fishing.

 

Fishing in pockets for gold.

 

It was smooth sailing back to Riften until an arrow shot out of the hillside and straight into Jihyo’s shoulder.

 

Dahyun immediately un-sheathed her dagger with her right hand while her left was engulfed in magic flames ready to be thrown at enemies.

 

The bandits poured down from the hillside in an attempt to overpower the two with sheer numbers. Those that remained on the hill nocked their bows with arrows and began shooting at the two.

 

Dahyun launched fireballs into groups of bandits and watched as they flew through the air. Even though she was injured, Jihyo had taken out the bandits trying to flank them from the left side.

 

Another arrow flew past Dahyun’s ear, barely missing her. She responded by launching fireballs at the rock outcroppings along the hillside. Watching as the burning archers were thrown across the hill. No more air attacks.

 

Jihyo has slashed down more bandits but was struggling with her injured arm. Dahyun fought her way to her, hacking and slashing anything solid that was in reach of her blade. She had finally reached her when a roar silenced the battle cry of the bandits.

 

 

A pride of saber-toothed cats had come out of their den; having been awoken by the sounds of clashing swords, fiery explosions, cries of pain and the smell of burning flesh.

 

The beasts charged the bandits with razor sharp claws ripping and tearing through the armor like butter. Blood stained the hillside as the saber-toothed cats shredded their ranks.

 

“Dubu! Let’s go!”

 

Dahyun and Jihyo used the surprise attack as a chance to flee from the wrath of the sabers. Sounds of tearing flesh, screams of pain and primal roars of victory were the only thing the two could hear as they escaped.

 

The pair continued their trek back to the Rift with a renewed vigilance. But the further they traveled, the worse Jihyo’s shoulder wound became. They had made it to Whiterun when Jihyo decided that the pain was too much to endure the whole way back to Riften.

 

With the physical help of Dahyun, Jihyo had been placed in an empty stall in the Whiterun Stables. Once Dahyun was sure Jihyo was relatively comfortable in her pile of straw, she went to go look for some medicine.

 

Dahyun wished she had the time to stick around and see the aftermath of her little escapade in the Whiterun Plaza. It was always fun to watch shopkeepers whining to the guards about how their strongbox was broken into and the 738 gold they had in there was missing.

 

But Dayhun had to get back to Jihyo, so she made quick work of the potions shop:

 

Sneaking around the back of the building and picking the backdoor lock. Casting a detect life spell to find out where the shopkeeper was (upstairs writing in her numbers book) and taking all the red tinted bottles from their shelves.

 

(As well as the green, the blue, the yellow, and the white. And snagging some carnis roots and swamp fungal pods to make some paralysis poisons back when she gets home.)

 

She entered Jihyo’s stall and began pulling out the health potions and handing three to her. Pulling out a magicka regeneration potion for herself, fireballs take a lot of energy and closes her bag of goodies.

 

“Thank you Dahyun.” Jihyo drank one of the potions and tosses it into the corner of the stall once the bottle was empty.

 

“No problem. But we better get going, you know I didn’t pay for these.” Dahyun holds up her sack of stolen potions and gives the older girl a wink before standing.

 

“Yeah yeah, just give me a moment.” Jihyo groaned as she stood, brushing the straw off herself.

 

After checking if any guards were around, the pair returned to their journey back home. They were silent as they walked, but it was a comfortable silence that was only broken when Dahyun tripped over a stone and made sure to curse it out. All Jihyo could do was laugh at her partner in crime and continue walking.

 

 

~~~

 

 

The sun had sunk beneath the mountain range by the time the two had finally reached the city of Riften.

 

“Hey, Jihyo.” Dahyun finally spoke up as they entered the sewer beneath the city.

 

“What’s up Dubu?” Jihyo pulled on a hidden lever lowering a wooden drawbridge that the two crossed.

 

“I was thinking.”

 

“That’s dangerous.”

 

“Shut up! I was thinking that I might head out to the college tomorrow morning,” Dahyun told the older girl as they made their way down the stone steps and into their home, the Ragged Flagon. Or otherwise known as the Thieves Guild.

 

The underground headquarters was buzzing with activity even during the late hours of the day. Kim Namjoon, or RM as he insisted on being called, was the guild's leader and stood behind his desk planning the next big heist.

 

Kim Yerim and Park Sooyoung, code names Yeri and Joy, could be heard laughing in the practice room.

 

Park Jeonghwa, just Jeonghwa, was brooding in the corner of one of the tunnels that lead further into the sewers of Riften. She was still upset that her attempt at breaking into the Goldenglow Estate was foiled by the mercenaries that were stationed all around the property as well as inside.

 

Then there was Moon Byulyi, Moonbyul, who was always trying to impress Kim Yongsun, Solar. At the moment it seemed that Moonbyul was trying to show off her archery skills, but Solar wasn’t having any of it and seemed to be more interested with the dagger in her hands.

 

This was Dahyun’s family. Thought they were a dysfunctional one, they were hers and she was theirs.

 

“Planning on visiting your lady?” Jihyo playfully poked Dahyun’s side with her fingers only to be slapped away by a blushing Dayhun.

 

“Yeah, it’s been a while since I’ve seen her because of all these dang shill jobs that send me halfway across the country to put a ring or a necklace in someone’s drawer as false evidence. Not that I’m complaining about the pay, that’s great, I just wish RM could give me a minute to breathe and visit my girl.” Dahyun and Jihyo waved to their fellow guildmates announcing their arrival back home, then continued to their beds.

 

Dahyun began to remove her dark leather uniform the guild provides for all its members and sets them next to her bed.

 

“Well before you leave, make sure to find me because I have a gift for her,” Jihyo told Dayhun from her bed across from Dahyun’s. Jihyo reached down for her coat and fishes around the pockets until she pulls out her last health potion, popping out the cork and downing the bottle.

 

“Of course.” Dahyun manages through a yawn proving how the travel had taken its toll on the little criminal.

 

“Goodnight Dubu.”

 

“Night God-Jihyo.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rataway: the sewers under the city of Riften. Those who don’t have a home above ground normally find themselfs in the Rataway. 
> 
> Magicka: the source of power for all mages. Everyone has a certain amount of magicka they can use for spells. The more powerful the mage, the more magick they have.
> 
> Please leave comments they help so much!


	3. Winterhold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dahyun travels to see her lady.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realize that not everyone will know all the aspects of the game Skyrim. So if you have any questions please ask.

 

Dahyun woke up early the next morning to prep for her long trip. She began her day by putting on her guild uniform: Darkly stained leather armor that has as many pockets as there are skooma addicts in the Reach. Leather boots that help muffle her movements from her targets. Leather bracers with hidden flaps built in to obscure her rather large collection of lock picks. And finally, her hood that helps boost her intimidation factor.

 

 

Once dressed, Dahyun made her way around the ring of the Flagon to the weapons rack. She grabbed her designated bow and a full quiver of arrows. Dahyun then walked over to the Flagon's secret entrance/exit that leads to The Riften graveyard.

 

 

Dahyun climbed up a latter and opened the secret trap door leading to a small room. She pulled a chain on the wall, opening the ceiling to reveal the Riften graveyard. Hiking up her bow and arrow that had slipped off her shoulders during the climb, she made her way to the small marketplace in the middle of the plaza. She had to have breakfast before her trip.

 

 

Dahyun stopped in front of Wheein’s food cart for an apple or two, maybe even a grilled rabbit haunch if there is one ready this early in the morning.

 

 

As she finished paying for her breakfast, she feels a tap on her shoulder. She turns with a hand resting on her dagger ready to strike at a moments notice but relaxes when she sees who it is.

 

 

“Kookie! Don’t sneak up on me like that. I could have stabbed you. What are you doing up this early?” She asked.

 

 

“I could ask you the same thing.” He tells her.

 

 

Jungkook was a member from the guild. Once lived in the Riften Orphanage, but he ran away after one too many beatings from Grelod. He was discovered by RM in the Rataways when he was 13 years old, living off of whatever the boy could manage to find. Now he was the guilds best pickpocket.

 

 

Dahyun was also from the orphanage but when she reached the age of 15, Grelod had kicked her out.

 

 

“Nobody wanted you! Nobody needed you! That’s why you stayed here until you were considered old enough to get thrown in the wide, horrible world! Now get lost you little guttersnipe!”

 

 

So Dahyun did. She left the orphanage and got lost in the Rataway below the city of Riften trying to escape the cold winters of the new year. That was how Jihyo found her, freezing to death in the old clothes from the orphanage, surviving off of bread she managed to steal from the others dwelling in the depths of the sewer. Jihyo bright her before the guild and pleaded with RM to let her stay.

 

 

“You helped me! Why can’t you help her too!”

 

 

The two fought until RM finally took pity on Dahyun. He assigned Jihyo to watch over her as she recovered from her slight hyperthermia and starvation. After she had recovered, Jihyo took Dahyun under her wing and taught her everything she knew about the art of stealth.

 

 

“I’m heading out to the College of Winterhold, I planned on leaving early to get as much daylight as I can,” Dahyun told Jungkook.

 

 

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” He raised an eyebrow at her.

 

 

“Not that I’m aware of no,” Dahyun said, patting  
All her pockets, looking over her shoulder and doing a little spin like a dog chasing its tail then finally looking Jungkook in the eyes and raising her apple. He shook his head, sighed and smiled at her antics.

 

 

“Jihyo told me to give this to you when she saw that you had left early.” Jungkook raised a package, a rectangle wrapped in brown paper with a string tying it closed.

 

 

“Oh right! Jihyo’s gift,” Dahyun took the parcel and slid it into one of her leather pockets.  
“I was so tired from yesterday that when I woke up this morning I completely forgot.” She told Jungkook then motioned for a hug.

 

 

The two embraced then Dahyun took her leave towards the main gate. Jungkook waved her goodbye and wished her a safe trip as one of the guards opened the giant wooden door leading to the outside world.

 

 

~~~

 

 

Not wanting to travel on foot from Riften to Winterhold, Dahyun went to the stables outside the city gate to hire a carriage. The thought of having to travel on foot through the snowy mountains of the Pale gave Dahyun the shivers. And she wasn’t even there yet.

 

 

After paying the driver, whose name was Doni, the horse began to pull the carriage and she was on her way. Riding in the back of the carriage gave her time to think. She thought about Riften and how, as a child, she was worried she was never going to get adopted and leave the walls of the city. She thought about The Rift and how the land quickly became her home outside of the city. Being out in nature, smelling the fresh clean air.

 

 

The first time she went outside the gate and into The Rift on a job for the guild, she spent most of her time observing the world around her. Trees that were growing out of the ground instead of being stacked up to create homes for the citizens of Riften. Alchemy Ingredients in their natural habits not kept in jars like they are in the guild. Dahyun had never felt so free before. She never wanted to go back.

 

 

That was until a frostbite spider flung poisonous spit on her face. She had come back from the job not being able to stand up straight without feeling nauseous and dizzy, her once pale face was now green.

 

 

Jihyo was the one to take her back to her bed and nurse her back to health. She always took care of the other members but when it came to Dahyun, Jihyo would never leave her side. So when Jihyo was injured or sick, Dahyun did everything she could to help her mentor recover.

 

 

She was jerked out of her thoughts when one of the wheels on the carriage went into one of the deep pot-holes scattered along the road and broke, tipping the whole carriage on its side.

 

 

“Miss, are you okay?” Doni asked as Dahyun climbed out of the back.

 

 

“Yes I’m fine, thank you... but this carriage isn’t.” Dahyun walked around to the broken side to get a look at the wheel. The wooden wheel had broken its spokes and the axel was snapped.

 

 

“I’m so sorry for the delay miss, here is your money back.” Doni tried to hand the coin purse back to Dahyun but she held up her hand, telling him to keep it.

 

 

“Use it to fix your carriage.”

 

 

Doni bowed in thanks as Dahyun took off towards Windhelm. “I’ll just have to get another carriage there,” Dahyun thought to herself continuing down the road and into the Eastmarch hot springs.

 

 

~~~

 

 

Dahyun had navigated her way through the hot springs with little to no incidents, although those giants did give her a threatening look as she passed by. But she just kept her head down. She wanted to get to the Windhelm stables in one piece, not limp and rag-dolling through the air.

 

 

She had almost made it out of the hot springs when she saw a pair of pants stuck in a bush. Confused, Dahyun looked around some more only to find more discarded clothes. That was when she heard a splash behind the bushes to her left. Peaking through them Dahyun saw two women, naked as the day they were born, lounging in the steamy water.

 

 

“Yah! Yerin! Pass me on that wine bottle, you’ve been hogging it the whole time!”

 

 

“This is mine SinB! If you hadn’t drunk yours so fast, maybe you would still have some left!”

 

 

The two were clearly drunk. There was a tent set up not too far away that told Dahyun the two were on a little vacation from the cold.

 

 

The woman who Dahyun assumes was SinB had reached over towards the other woman, Yerin, to try to take her wine bottle. Flashing Dahyun and Yerin in the process.

 

 

“No SinB, I told you this one is mine!” Yerin moved the bottle out of reach causing the SinB to lose her balance and slip, landing on Yerin with a splash.

 

 

The two looked at each other and started giggling.  
Yerin leaned forward and captured SinB’s lips pulling the women into a heated makeout session. Dahyun took that as a sign for her to leave and turned back towards Windhelm, hearing the two women splash and giggle behind her.

 

 

When Dahyun made it to the Windhelm stables, the sun was getting low in the sky, so she quickly got a carriage and headed to Winterhold. Thankfully there were no incidents besides an ice wraith that was quickly blown up with a fireball.

 

 

The sun had just set as the carriage pulled into Winterhold. Dahyun jumped out the back an bowed to the driver in thanks before making her way through the town.

 

 

The town was once a large, bustling city that drew in people from all over. But after a cataclysmic event known as ‘The Great Collapse,’ most of the city fell into the Sea of Ghosts. The buildings that were lucky enough to still be standing when the city physically fell into the ocean were all the remains of the great city. Except for the College of Winterhold, which was left relatively unscathed and now towered over the remnants of the city. Because of this, Winterhold’s relationship with the college was lost. Remaining residents blamed the college for causing the Great Collapse, which Winterhold was still not recovered from.

 

 

Dahyun eventually found herself at the archway before the bridge that leads to the college. A red and orange-haired woman stood under the archway.

 

 

“Is that a Dahyun I see down there?” The fiery-haired woman called down from the archway.

 

 

“Solji!” Dahyun waved at the older woman and started up the incline up to the archway to meet the mage. She was pulled into a tight hug by Solji, rocking them back and forth.

 

 

“I hope your journey to Winterhold was not entirely unpleasant,” Solji asked Dahyun as the two crossed the suspended bridge to the college.

 

 

“Oh you know, a giant here, an ice wraith there." Dahyun smiled up at the fiery-haired mage. Stopping in front of an impossibility tall gate.

 

 

“Ha! Humor is often in short supply here,” The gate opened with a wave of Solji’s hand and the two continued into the college grounds.“But I sense that perhaps you are here for more than just a guild work yes?” Solji interrogates.

 

 

“You caught me.” Dahyun raises her hands in surrender. “I’m here to surprise Mina.”

 

 

“Ahh, I see.” Solji raised a finger to her lips making a shushing face before smiling. “Well, you know where she is.” She pats Dahyun’s back before returning to her spot on the bridge.

 

 

Dahyun stood in front of the ridiculously tall entry doors to the college building, took a deep breath then headed inside and up the spiral stone staircase to the second floor.

 

 

Mina was always in the Arcanaeum, it was her job after all. She would either be helping students find the books they needed, tending to the bookcases, or reading. So it’s no surprise when she finds Mina re-arranging books on one of the many shelves.

 

 

She hadn’t seen Dahyun yet which the pale girl used to her advantage. Silently making her way along the stone wall towards the bookshelf, Dahun snuck up on the unsuspecting woman until she was close enough to wrap her arms around Mina’s waist who jumped at the contact and turned to see who was behind her.

 

 

“Dahyun!” The worry was erased from her expression as she pulled Dahyun into a tight embrace. Kisses are planted all over her forehead. “I’ve missed you Dubu.” Mina finished her sentence with a kiss on the lips.

 

 

 

“Aww, I’ve missed you too my little penguin.” Dahyun moved her hands from Mina’s waist to cup her face, pulling her into a passionate kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Arcanaeum: Serves as the library for the college of Winterhold.
> 
> Frostbite spider: Giant arachnids which attack on sight, and can be found both in the wilderness and in dungeons.
> 
> Giants: usually seen herding their mammoths through mountains and tundra. They don’t attack unless provoked which normally causes you to get launched halfway across the map. Dead of course. 
> 
> The Rift: one of the nine holds in Skyrim. A forest dense region located in Eastern Skyrim with mountain ranges on either side
> 
> The Pale: one of the nine holds in Skyrim. The Capital City of The Pale is Dawnstar. 
> 
> Ice wraith: elemental serpent like creatures made of ice and snow.
> 
> Grelod (the kind): orphanage owner who hates kids.
> 
> Please leave comments! They help so much.


	4. College of Winterhold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> mihyun relationship origins plus seulgmo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the long wait. End of school year crunch time.
> 
> If you have any questions please ask them.

Mina woke up in her bed and stared at the ceiling for a moment, letting the dark and silent calmness of the room wash over her. Outside, she can hear the occasional conversation from a group of students on their way to study or to practice a new spell.

 

 

Mina shifts slightly, turning to face Dahyun and silently laughing when she sees her scrunch up her face from the disturbance. She’s so cute that Mina can’t help but lean in and peck the tip of her nose.

 

 

Their relationship is unorthodox. Mina having grown up following all the rules that Dahyun breaks on a daily basis.

 

 

Mina had moved with her family to this unknown land when she was still a child. She had to adjust to the cold temperatures that followed you no matter where you went. She had to get used to the new foods that were native to this land. She observed and learned from those around her that this land was unforgiving, taking more than it gave.

 

 

Mina sometimes thought about why she stayed here after all it had taken from her. Her friends, her family, her home.

 

 

But then, she remembers all it has given her as well.

 

 

Her home may be gone, but she found a new one at the college. Her friends might be gone for good, but through her grieving, she had met many kind faces, some who are still by he side today. And her parents who had been taken away from her to early could never be replaced. But those closest to her, slowly but surely, become her new family.

 

 

Then there was Dahyun.

 

 

Mina considered Dahyun a blazing fire in this frozen wasteland whose smile could melt all the ice in the ocean below the college.

 

 

Dahyun was with a fellow guild member when Mina first saw her. Her partner (Mina later learned was named Jihyo) was holding conversations with the Winterhold guards while Dahyun was emptying their pockets.

 

 

The second time was in Windhelm. Mina was visiting a friend when she saw Dahyun sneaking into one of the residents home. Not two minutes later, Dahyun had leaped out of the second story window with a sack full of valuable items.

 

 

Mina followed the thief all the way to the Windhelm Stables where she saw Jihyo holding the reins of two horses.

 

 

“What do you think you’re doing?” Mina had her arms crossed and a stern look on her face. Both women turned to face her.

 

 

“Nothing that concerns you.” Jihyo threatened, moving her jacket to the side to reveal a sword strapped to her waist. Mina looked at the blade then back up to Jihyo’s death stare.

 

 

“Oh please.” Mina scoffed and raised her hands, a magical flame in each hand.

 

 

“Woah... that’s hot.” Dahyun stared at her hands awestruck. Mina blamed the reddening of her cheeks on the cold weather.

 

 

“You two better give those stolen goods back or else this is going to get ugly.” This time Mina threatened the two women, gesturing to her flaming hands.

 

 

Jihyo looked at the flames on Mina’s hands then to the bag in Dahyun’s hands.

 

 

“...Fine.”

 

 

Jihyo nodded to Dahyun to set down the bag and the two climb into their horses. As they trotted down the hill, Dahyun turned and called out to Mina.

 

 

”Be careful with those flames, I wouldn’t want someone as beautiful as you to hurt themselves.”

 

 

With those final words, Dahyun rode off into the distance.

 

 

Since then Mina had been keeping an eye out for the pale girl whenever she left the college grounds. But never had any luck finding her.

 

 

“Hey there hot stuff.”

 

 

Until she found Mina.

 

 

“Excuse me?” Mina turned to see Dahyun leaning against one of the stone pillars on either side of the ramp that leads to the bridge of the college. ”What are you doing here. Thief.” Mina’s voice was void of any emotion.

 

 

“Just passing through.” She responds smirking.

 

 

“Really? You sure you weren't sent here to steal anything.” Mina crosses her arms and turns to fully face the woman.

 

 

“Well, the only thing worth stealing here is the key to your house so I could see that pretty little face of yours whenever I wanted.”

 

 

That is how most of their interaction would go: Mina is caught off guard, Dahyun says something flirtatious, Mina gets flustered, and Dahyun leaves victorious. Until Mina gets the courage to flirt back, leaving Dahyun flustered.

 

 

They continue meeting every other week until Dahyun stops showing up. Mina tells herself that she shouldn’t care.

 

 

But she does.

 

 

Dahyun doesn’t show up for two months and three days (not that Mina is counting). On the fourth day Sowon, the guidance counselor of the college, came into the Archaneum looking for Mina.

 

 

“Sorry to disturb you Mina, but there is a woman at the entrance gate who is refusing to leave until she talks to you,” Sowon told Mina who just turns the page in the book she was reading.

 

 

“Can’t Solji deal with this? She is the gate guard after all.” Mina still doesn’t look up from her book.

 

 

“That’s the problem, Solji can’t get her to leave and you know we can’t call the authorities. They won’t help with college business anymore.” Informed Sowon.

 

 

With a heavy sigh, Mina closed her book and stood up to head outside with Sowon. The two made their way through the courtyard and across the bridge until they finally arrive at the entrance gate. Mina is surprised to see Solji wrestling a wriggling Dahyun on the ground.

 

 

“Dahyun?”

 

 

“Mina! Tell this crazy lady to get off me!” Dahyun tries to flip Solji over but the older woman has her pinned down.

 

 

“It’s okay Solji she’s a friend,” Mina tells the red-haired mage. Solji nods her head and gets off Dahyun.

 

 

“Dahyun what are you doing here?” Mina offers her hand to help the woman up.

 

 

“I’m here to see you.” Dahyun breathlessly says her while brushing the snow from herself. “I know it’s been a while but I can explain.”

 

 

“Can we be alone for a moment.” Mina politely asks Solji and Sowon who both nod their head and head back across the bridge to the college.

 

 

When the two are finally out of sight, Mina turns back to Dahyun. “Alright. Explain why you disappeared for two months without telling me.”

 

 

The thief took a deep breath before starting. “I was on a job with a guild member, you don’t know him, and we had to sneak into Markarth to plant some false evidence in Understone Keep. We got in fine. But when we were in a back room, my partner stabbed me in the back...no like... he physically stabbed me in the back. Look!”

 

 

Dahyun raised the back of her coat to show Mina a fresh scar on her lower back. “Anyway, he left me in that back room with the false evidence to bleed out and that’s how the city guard found me. I was thrown into Cidhna mine for about two months. Other than the abusive guards and the silver mining it wasn’t that bad, I met some interesting characters in there and, get this, I even saw Nayeon’s special cell. I didn’t see her of course but there were always two guards posted outside the door, which had like 12 locks on it. Anyways, when I was finally released, Jihyo was waiting for me and took me straight home. I’ve been there healing ever since.”

 

 

“So you’re okay?” Mina worriedly asks.

 

 

Yeah, I’m fin—uhh” Dahyun’s sentence is cut off by Mina who pulled the woman into a tight embrace.

 

 

“Never scare me like that again.” Mina squeezed her arms tighter around Dahyun’s waist.

 

 

“Anything for you hot stuff.”

 

 

~~~

 

 

Dahyun woke up to Mina sliding into her college robes.

 

 

“Where are you going this early?” Dahyun’s voice is raspy from sleep.

 

 

“The Archmage is coming back today with more information about the recent magical anomalies we’ve been seeing around the Pale area. Also, it’s not early, we slept in.” Mina tells her as she rolls up the sleeves of her robe.

 

 

“You know, I love it when you talk all smart like that. Even if I don’t understand half the things you’re saying.” Dahyun smiles from her bundle of covers she had wrapped herself in.

 

 

“Flattery won’t get me back in bed. Now get up and put on some pants.” Mina finishes tying the belt of her robes and looks at a pouting Dahyun before leaving the room.

 

 

“Good morning miss Myoui.” College staff greeted Mina on her way to the courtyard. When she arrived at the magical fountain in the middle of the courtyard, she smiled at Sowon who was already waiting.

 

 

“Good morning Sowon.”

 

 

“Good morning Mina. Where is Dahyun?” Sowon politely asks.

 

 

“Hopefully putting pants on and getting ready for the day,” Mina responds.

 

 

The screeching of the metal entrance announces the arrival of the Archmage. She walks towards the two with another woman trailing behind her.

 

 

“Good to see you two again.” She side hugs both Mina and Sowon.

 

 

“How were your travels? Did you find anything on the anomalies?” Sowon asks the woman.

 

 

“They were good, Seulgi and I only ran into a little trouble on the way back but it was nothing to worry about.” She told them.

 

 

“And by little trouble, she means a herd of frost trolls.” Seulgi corrects the Archmage with a smirk.

 

 

“Exactly. Nothing to worry about. And about the anomalies, I took some field notes on what I observed I’ll show you when we get inside. Did anything happen while we were gone?” She asks.

 

 

Well.” Sowon begins. “Hoseok used a few apprentices to practice his alteration spells on and turned two into horses and the other into a chicken. Yuju cast a fire cloak spell on herself, catching anyone who came within three meters of we on fire. And Jin has lost his ambelic a total of...eight times just this week.” Sowon informs the Archmage, having to count on her fingers for that last bit.

 

 

“Sounds like a normal Wednesday to me,” Seulgi told the group.

 

 

“Dahyun is visiting,” Mina speaks up for the first time since the Archmage and Seulgi has arrived.

 

 

“Dahyun’s here!” The Archmage says excitedly with a big smile.

 

 

“Yeah, she got here last night so she’s pretty tired,” Mina tells the two mages.

 

 

“I bet she’s pretty tired.” Seulgi winks at Mina, who smacks her arm and blushes at the comment.

 

 

“Mina! Where did you put my belt? I can’t find it anywhere.” Dahyun’s voice can be heard across the courtyard. The trio turned to see Dahyun waking towards them holding onto her belt loops to keep her pants from falling down.

 

 

Mina blush darkens when she catches Seulgi’s smirk out of the corner of her eye.

 

 

“Hey there Dubu, how have you been?” The Archmage asks the belt-less woman.

 

 

“Momo? Momo!” Dahyun momentarily forgets about her wardrobe malfunction and runs into the Archmage. The latter wraps her arms around the younger woman and hugs her with just as much enthusiasm.

 

 

“It’s good to see you again, how long has it been?” Momo asks while reaching her hands down to Dahyun’s belt loops and pulling them up.

 

 

“Too long.” Dahyun smiles up at the Archmage. “Oh guess what! I finally got a chance to use that fireball spell you taught me.” Dahyun tells Momo.

 

 

“Haha, I’m glad it worked out for you. Why don’t we move this inside, Seulgi and I have some stuff to set down.”

 

 

The group migrates to the main college building, going up the spiral staircase to the third floor of the tower.

 

 

“Ahh, home sweet home,” Momo says as she walked into the large room that took up a whole floor. She walked behind the stone wall that separated her room from the living area.

 

 

As the Archmage of the college, Momo gets the entire third floor to herself. The large room is circular with an enchanting station in one-third of the room. The station includes an enchanting table and item displays filled with soul gems to use for enchanting. Another third has an alchemy laboratory. Potion recipes are stacked on a shelf in one of the cabinets lining the wall. The rest of the shelves are filled with ingredients that can be brewed into different potions and poisons.

 

 

In the middle of the room grew a giant magical tree that helped illuminate the room. Alchemy ingredients grow around the roots as well as flowers Momo has collected from the surrounding holds. The curved stone wall behind the garden serves as a backdrop and a divider that separates Momo’s bed and personal items from view.

 

 

“So how was your trip to... where exactly did you guys go?” Dahyun asks from her chair by the alchemy lab.

 

 

“The Jarl of Dawnstar sent word to the college about a magical disturbance near Windward Ruins, so Momo and I went to go check it out,” Seulgi told Dahyun.

 

 

Momo entered the living area from behind the wall in her Archmage robes holding a leg of jokbal in her hands. The blue robe was made from enchanted thread and has been passed down from Archmage to Archmage. Momo refuses to wear the hood around the college claiming: “If I didn’t have bangs I would look bald.”

 

 

She walked up next to Seulgi and offered some of her jokbal to the monolid mage who gladly accepts the offering.

 

 

“You can go change now” Momo whispered into Seulgi’s ear. The mage swallows her bite and heads behind the stone wall.

 

 

“Momo!” Dahyun leaps up from her chair. “When did you and Seulgi become a thing?” Dahyun grins at the Archage who proceeded to choke on her jokbal. Mina gave Dahyun a stern look as she walked behind Momo and pats her on the back to help her fight through her coughing fit.

 

 

“A what? No. Seulgi and I are not a ‘thing’.” Momo says as she crosses the room to her wine cabinet and proceeding to pour it into a goblet. Dahyun crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow.

 

 

“You just shared your jokbal with her,” Dahyun argued.

 

 

“So what.”

 

 

“You never share food! Especially jokbal!” Dahyun points at the leg of pork in the Archmage’s hand.

 

 

“She has a point,” Sowon speaks up.

 

 

“Not you too.” Momo whines.

 

 

“And I’ve noticed that you two have been going to onsen together quite a bit lately.” Sowon points out.

 

 

“So what. I’ve been to onsen with both you and Mina before.” Momo tried to defend herself.

 

 

“Well, we didn’t spend hours in there together like you do with Seulgi.” Mina quietly says from behind Dahyun.

 

 

“Yah! Mina!”

 

 

"Ooo, Momo’s got herself a lady friend.” Dahyun teased, moving closer so she could poke the Archmage in the sides with her fingers.

 

 

“I am feeling so attacked right now.” Momo hid her red cheeks by pulling her hood up and sulked over to a chair near the wall where she continued to eat her jokbal.

 

 

“Yah! You all broke Momo!” Seulgi came around the corner in her college robes. “what did you do to her?” She kneels down next to the Archmage and rubs her knee. Embarrassed, Momo sinks deeper into her chair. Her cheeks even redder than before.

 

 

Mina covers Dahyun’s mouth with her hand before she can say anything to embarrass Momo further.

 

 

“Oh nothing, she’s just really tired,” Mina tells Seulgi.

 

 

“Oh, I see.” Seulgi turns to Momo. “Are you too tired to leave for the burning festival?”

 

 

“Burning?” Dahyun whispers to Mina over her shoulder.

 

 

Mina wrapped her arms around Dahyun’s waist, leaning her head down to the woman’s ear. “The burning of King Olaf is a yearly festival performed in Solitude by the Bards College. The festival includes the burning of an effigy meant to represent King Olaf One-Eye, who was sentenced to be burned for betraying the city of Solitude.” She whispers into Dahyun’s ear.

 

 

“No, I still want to go to the burning, plus it’s been so long since we've seen Seungwan.” Momo sets her the jokbal bone on the table next to her and commences to lick her fingers clean.

 

 

“Umm... could I come? I’ve never been to Solitude for something that wasn’t guild related.” Dahyun asked from her spot nestled between Mina’s arms.

 

 

“Of course, the more the merrier. Mina, would you like to come too?” Seulgi eye smiled at the pair.

 

 

“She better! She needs to get out of that damn library. Every time I come to visit her she’s always in there.” Dahyun looks over her shoulder at Mina.

 

 

“It looks like I don’t have any other choice,” Mina says making Dahyun smiles at her.

 

 

“Alright then,” Seulgi claps her hands together as she made the announcement. “It’s decided. We will leave for Solitude tomorrow morning. Until then please go back to your normal schedule.”

 

 

Seulgi takes Momo by the arm and leads the blushing woman behind the stone wall. Dahyun, Mina, and Sowon all laugh at the Archmage before heading down the spiral stairs to finish their day.

 

 

~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Archaneum: the library for the College of Winterhold. 
> 
> Markarth: the City of Stone is built into the side of a mountain and is one of the nine major cities Skyrim. 
> 
> Understone Keep: a gigantic dwarven building, now used as the city’s keep.
> 
> Cidhna Mine: Cidhna Mine is a prison in Markarth. It is commonly referred to as the most secure prison in Skyrim.
> 
> Archmage: A powerful mage who is the leader of the Mages Guild.
> 
> Frost troll: large, hairy, ape-like creatures with sharp fangs, claws and long, powerful arms. These creatures have three black eyes. (Frost trolls are white).
> 
> Soul gem: naturally-occurring magic stones that house the souls of the dead. Used for enchanting weapons and armor.
> 
> Dawnstar: One of the nine-major cities in the province of Skyrim, being the capital of the region of the Pale. 
> 
> High Gate Ruins: One of many ancient Nordic burial sites spread throughout the province of Skyrim. 
> 
> Onsen: A Japanese hot spring.
> 
> Bards College: A joinable guild that consists of bards, poets and public speakers. 
> 
>  
> 
> Please leave commoner on what you think. They help so much.


	5. Wreck in Dunstad Grove

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> no sana no life

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oooooofph its been awhile. Also my writing style has changed (Hopefully for the better)

"You know... boats were made to travel on water, not on land."

 

 

"Yes I know that you moron!"

 

 

"Then why did you make it go on land?"

 

 

"You know, I can't deal with this amount sarcasm right now. I'm busy thinking of what I want to be written down on my inheritance letter before the chief comes out and kills me."

 

 

"Ooo inheritance, am I-"

 

 

"What makes you think you are getting anything from me, Lisa?"

 

 

"How rude, all those times I stayed up keeping you company during night watch meant nothing to you?"

 

 

"By all those times, do you mean that one time Jisoo accidentally locked the door to your shared room before she went to sleep, forcing you to stay above deck with the only other person awake on the entire ship... which was me."

 

 

"Ummmm no?"

 

 

BANG!

 

 

A wooden door leading into the main levels of the vessel burst open causing the two bickering sailors to turn a ghostly pale and stop talking. A fuming dark brunette stomped over to the two women who's heads were cast down. "Lisa! Rosé! Which one of you two bastards just beached my ship!" The brunette's fists were clenched in anger as she waited for one of the two women to answer her question. "If neither of you start talking, I'll have you both tied to the mast that is used for archery and knife throwing practice!"

 

 

"It was Rosé, she wasn't paying attention and crashed the ship-oh wow look at the time, I promised Jisoo I would help her organize the storage room, I better get going." Lisa attempted to escape, but Rosé grabbed the collar of her shirt pulling the girl back.

 

 

"I wasn't paying attention? More like I was trying to stop you from lighting a bottle of frostbite venom on fire!" Lisa tried not to smirk as Rosé held her up by the collar of her shirt.

 

 

"Alright alright, That's enough Rosé!" The two sailors were pulled apart and lead over to the railing on the side of the boat where the angry brunette held them over the cold ocean water. "You two will go and see what kind of damage you did to my ship and then get to work on fixing it, understood?" Both girls held onto the arms of the woman holding them off the side of the vessel.

 

 

"Yes chief!" they said simultaneously. The chief smiled then released her hold on the sailors, watching them fall into the shallow waters below.

 

 

~ ~ ~

 

 

"Fuck," Sana grunted, dropping the parchment out of her hands onto the pile of contracts and bounties on the wooden table. The other woman across the table looked up from her own pile of papers, worrying about the girl, but remained quiet.

 

 

Wrecking the Icerunner was not something the crew of bandits was expecting on their way to the city of Solitude, but of course, something like this had to happen. Sana and her crew had been plagued with a string of bad luck; their attempts at robbing caravans have almost all been thwarted by city guards or vigilantes trying to make a name for themselves.

 

 

"Sana, you alright?" Jennie, Sana's favorite crew member, asked from her seat on the other side of the desk.

 

 

The bandit chief looked at the woman across her and pointed at the stack of papers in front of her, "No, I don't know how I am going to afford to fix the Icerunner and to pay my crew without selling everything on this damn boat," Sana ranted then slumped her head into her hands with a grand sigh.

 

 

"Maybe we could set up a camp on the shore, try to seal a few coin purses from travelers," Jennie set down her stack of papers and leaned back in her chair.

 

 

"How many people do you think are traveling from Dawnstar to Solitude? We would have better luck finding gold by digging in the snow."

 

 

"It's at least somewhere we can start."

 

 

Sana looked up from her hands and nodded, "you know, you're the most competent crew member I have, that's why you are my favorite."

 

 

"Thats the reason?"

 

 

"That, and the fact that your good with your hands," Sana winked at a blushing Jennie then stood up and walked over to her wardrobe, pulling on her iron armor and grabbing her steel sword. "Tell Jisoo were setting up an ambush and to meet us on the shore, I'll go get the ship wreckers."

 

 

~~~

 

 

The bandits had waited for a total of thirty minutes after setting up their ambush before a group of four women came walking down the snow covered road. Maybe luck was on their side now.

 

 

"That was quick" Jennie whispered into Sana's ear, the two women were hidden behind a large rock just off the side of the road while Jisoo and Rosé were stationed on the other side of the road by a fallen tree. Lisa was on the hill behind Sana and Jennie, an arrow already nocked and ready to shoot on Sana's signal.

 

 

Sana raised her right hand just high enough that she was sure Lisa could see it and waited for the perfect moment to let the archer fire. She stayed like that, hand raised, until the group of four was in-between the fallen tree and the large rock. Sana closed her hand into a fist, signaling for Lisa to attack the group. But the arrow was long and flew in front of the group. Looks like they were still on their bad luck streak.

 

 

The group of well-dressed women, now alerted of an enemy presence, stood back to back. Three of the four had cast spells, engulfing their hands in flames and sparks of electricity while the other unsheathed a dagger from her green cloak.

 

 

Another arrow whizzed by over the rock but was shot out of the sky by a fireball. Jisoo and Rosé leaped over their tree, swords drawn and charged into battle. Lisa continued firing arrow after arrow at the group but they either dodged or burned or froze all of them before they could cause any damage.

 

 

Drawing her sword, Sana stood and emerged from behind her rock, running towards the group with Jennie right behind her. Sana swung her sword at the woman with the dagger and the two blades cashed together. She was stronger then the small woman, her swing had unbalanced her opponent, but she was not quite as fast.

 

 

The two traded swings, one not giving the other any form of leverage; Sana's powerful blows were difficult to defend against with a smaller blade but the woman was agile getting in a few scrapes here and there. After a hard swing that unbalanced the woman, Sana raised her foot and kicked the girl in her stomach, knocking her down into the snow.

 

 

Using this to her advantage, Sana spun her sword around in her hands and was about to plunge the blade into the woman on the ground but was stopped by a cold feeling spreading throughout her torso. One of the three mages fighting Jisoo, Lisa, Jennie, and Rosé had come up behind Sana and cast an ice form spell, freezing her body in place. All that remained unfrozen was Sana's head and her arms raised above her head.

 

 

"Shit."

 

 

~~~

 

 

After Sana was frozen, Jisoo, Jennie, Rosé, and Lisa were tied up against the fallen tree. Embarrassed by how easily they were defeated, all five of the bandits refused to look at their captors. "Alright. who is the leader of your little group?" A mage wearing a blue cloak questioned the bandits.

 

 

"I'd raise my hand but they are both already in the air," Sarcasm dripped from Sana's voice, "And how dare you! We are not some little group, we are the Bandits of the Icerunner!" Sana proudly lifted her gaze to meet the mage in front of her.

 

 

"I'm assuming that is the name of your boat," another mage, this one wearing a yellow cloak, had stepped forward giving the five a quick once over, "or more like was judging by that ship beached out by the shore." Both Lisa and Rosé looked up at Sana from their tree only to have the chief shoot daggers back at them. "we're taking you to Solitude so you can pay for your crimes then. _Bandit Chief of the Icerunner_."

 

 

The woman who fought with the dagger stepped forward, "Yeah, and we'll leave a knife for the other four so they can try and cut themselves loose before the wolves get to them." The woman bent over and pulled a small knife out of her boot.

 

 

"What? Dahyun no," The yellow cloak mage grabbed the knife out of Dahyun's hand, "we are not 'leaving them for the wolves'." She raised her hand and created a glowing purple orb. closing her hand around the orb and mumbling a few words, a glowing blue figure appeared out of thin air and turned to face the mage. "Go back to Dawnstar and tell the authorities about a group of bandits tied to a tree West of the town." The ethereal figure bowed then took off running in the direction the four women had come from.

 

 

"Thank you Mina, Seulgi if could help out our _chief_ here,"

 

 

The mage in a red cloak, Sana assumed this was Seulgi, stepped forward and began casting runes on Sana's ice block, melting the ice and freeing Sana. "I trust you are smart enough to know that fighting back against us would be useless," Seulgi told Sana as the group of four turned five started heading along the road towards the City of Solitude again. All Sana could do was follow the women.

 

 

~~~


	6. The Reach

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just some slightly important info about Nayeon. 3026 words of important information.

~

The land of the Reach was once occupied by natives, but because of its strategic location between the neighboring country, as well as for its rich silver mines, it caused the two provinces to fight over its ownership. Over the years of fighting, the intermingling of invaders and natives in the region began to create a regionally distinct race called the "Reachmen." This diversity encouraged the development of a unique culture over a period of centuries.

 

These men and women of the Reach were expelled from power and culturally ostracized after the invaders' conquest of the Reach. Despite all this, they still view the entirety of the hold as their ancestral land and do not accept the new occupation of the region, or the Empire's legal authority over it.

 

They briefly succeeded in taking control of Markarth, until mercenaries were hired by the Empire to retake the city, causing the death of many Reachmen in the battle to reclaim the Stone City. Since then, they have taken on the name of "The Forsworn" and have organized and formed a resistance; attempting to infiltrate Markarth, occupying the nearby forts and outposts, attacking its supply lines and its neighboring mines, all in an effort to weaken the Empire's control of the region.

 

As a child, Nayeon grew up in the countryside working on her family's farm. Her father taught her to observe the seasons to know what day was perfect for planting and what day was perfect for harvest. Mr. Im made sure all his children knew how to defend themselves in case of a Forsworn attack. But no matter how hard he tried to protect his family, they still fell to the wrath of the Forsworn.

 

Nayeon was the only Im to survive the attack. She was out plowing the field when she saw smoke in the distance. Running back to find her family, the 14-year-old returned to the burnt remains of her home and the charred corpses of her father, mother, and little sister.

 

She stayed by their side until it started raining and the soot run-off from the house had pooled around the Ims. Nayeon knew there was nothing she could do for them now and began to search through the remains of the house to find anything useful. With what little gold she had in her pockets and the iron dagger she found, Nayeon began the trek to the city of Markarth.

 

On the way, a pack of starving wolves attacked Nayeon from the cliffs. She fought them off, but not unscathed; the wolves had bitten a chunk of flesh out of the side of her leg, as well as two long scratches starting from her right ear all the way across her cheek stopping just past her lower lip. Nayeon limped the rest of the way to the City of Stone, but once she arrived her trouble wasn’t over yet.

 

~ ~ ~

 

Markarth was built around a large rock formation with twin rivers flowing between the lower valley and the upper path. The city is divided into two distinct districts, each separated by the large crag in the middle of the city. To the north is the Dry-side, which contains the market square, as well as, residential homes. The Dry-side in itself is divided, with both an upper and lower level. The lower level is more or less a path to Understone Keep while the upper level contains more homes.

 

To the south is the Riverside, which is a vast basin, essentially the industrial district of Markarth. Streets descend downwards towards the smelter and the infamous Cidhna Mina, which serves as the local prison. The poor and working class of Markarth live here, in underground slums.

 

Nayeon entered through the city gates into the Dry-side market square where many residents shopped at the stalls. Not even three seconds after she arrived, a man among the crowd drew a steel dagger and snuck up behind a woman at a jewelry cart. He grabbed her shoulder and drove the dagger into her back while yelling “For the Forsworn!”

 

The crowds of shoppers went into a frenzy and rushed to flee the market and into the streets of Markarth, consequentially, dragging a wounded Nayeon along with them. She was pushed and pulled by the current of bodies until finally, she escaped the crowd. To not be sucked into the mass again, Nayeon reached for the nearest door and entered the building.

 

Inside, the house was a mess: bowls and plates are strewn across the floor, dressers are hung open with clothing haphazardly laying about. Moldy food covered the counters and floor below, chairs are flipped and the stone tables are covered in a thick layer of dust and cobwebs.

 

Nayeon gazed around the room but decided to stay where she was, she didn’t want to stray too far into the seemingly abandoned house and get lost. She slid down against the metal door listening to the screams of passerby and shouts of guards trying and failing to control the chaos outside.

 

The long treck was finally taking a hold on Nayeon as the adrenaline from the market square was wearing off. Her head drooped in exhaustion and her eyelids grew heavy. As she began drifting into an exhaustion induced slumber, she failed to notice a bucket in the corner of the room begin to glow and jerk around.

 

~ ~ ~

 

The clang of a metal tankard falling on stone floor woke up the 14-year-old. She scanned the room for the cause of the sound but was only met with silence. Getting up from her spot against the door, she turned and leaned the side of her head against the door listening to the streets outside. When she heard no muffled screams of terror she opened the door. Or at least she tried to. It seemed to be jammed shut and no matter how hard she pulled it wouldn’t budge. Nayeon began to yell for help, her fists banging against the metal door hoping that someone, anyone could hear her.

 

“Is someone there?” A male voice asked slightly muffled by the door.

 

“Yes! Please help me! I'm stuck in here!” Nayeon called out to her rescuer.

 

“Okay, hold on. I’m going to get you out of there.” The man on the other side of the door calmly told her.She heard grunts coming from outside as the man tried to open the metal door. The crash of a wine bottle shattering on the floor was heard behind Nayeon the same moment the door flew open. The momentum from the door suddenly flying open caused the man to fall in front of her.

 

“Thank you so much.” Nayeon helped the man stand up who, now that she could see him, was in Markarth guard attire.

 

“All in a days work. How long have you been in here?” The guard asked while dusting himself off.

 

“I don’t know. I hid in here after the market attack, but fell asleep against the door not long after.” She told him.

 

“Hmm, well let's get out of here and over to the Silverblood inn to get you all cleaned up.” He reached for the handle only to have the door suddenly slam shut before he could grab it.

 

The lanterns burst to life and cast the abandoned room in hazy orange light. Items started to fall from the already messy shelves and the newly ignited lanterns flickered. One of the goblets that had fallen off of the stone tables rolled on the ground until it came in contact with Nayeon’s foot, where it rolled back then against her foot again. A deep demonic voice was heard in Nayeon’s mind:

 

**“Weak. He’s weak. You’re strong. Crush him.”**

 

Items around the house began floating in the air. Buckets were banging together with brooms and tankards zoomed around the room. The guard was struggling with the door as a rotten tomato exploded against the cabinet behind him. The cabinet that was once full of dusty books that were now strewn across the room.

 

“Help me get this door open!” The guard yelled while barely avoiding a plate flying at his head. The voice resonated through Nayeons mind again:

 

**“No. Kill him crush his bones. Rip at his flesh. You will kill.”**

 

Panicking, Nayeon drew her dagger from its holster, “Get out of my head!” Nayeon yells into the chaotic room but the only response she gets is a wheel of rotten goat cheese flying into the wall to her right and breaking into smaller chunks. She turns and starts pulling on the door with the guard

 

**“You will kill, or you will be killed!”**

 

Nayeon lets go of the door and fell to the floor grabbing her head, shouting at the unknown entity to get out of her head. Looking up to see the guard still struggling with the door and random objects still flying around through the air, she realizes there is only one way out.

 

Raising her dagger, she stabbed it into the guards back. Pulling it out only to plunge it back in again and again until the guard is slumped on the stone floor in a pool of his own blood. The items in the room halt all motion and fall to the floor in unison.

 

**“Yes. Your reward is waiting, mortal.”**

 

Nayeon dropped the bloody dagger and sinks to the floor. Her entire body was shaking and tears were running down her face.

 

**“Further down.”**

 

Her body unconsciously follows the instructions echoing through her mind and stands to venture deeper into the abandoned house. When she makes it all the way to the basement floor, she finds a hole that looked recently dug and rubble from the building thrown to the side alongside piles of dirt. Nayeon follows the subterranean tunnel until she is facing an altar. A rusty mace was displayed on the stand.

 

**“Come take your prize.”**

 

She stepped forward and reached for the rusty mace but before she could touch the aged weapon, spikes shoot up out of the altar and surround Nayeon in a small cage.

 

**“Fool! Did you think that Molag Bal, The Lord of Domination, would so easily reward you? What do you see from that little cage?”**

 

Nayeon looked up from where she was crouching to get a better look at the altar in front of her. The rusty mace magically hovered upright over a sink of blood. The weapon was slowly rotating clockwise, displaying all its sharp edges. But she couldn’t see much more because of the metal spikes trapping her.

 

**“Speak.”**

 

“I-I see an altar?” Nayeon managed to stutter out a reply to the Daedra.

 

**“Yes. It’s an altar. Men would sacrifice the wretched in my name. The weak would be punished by the strong.”**

 

The demonic voice of Molag Bal rang throughout her head, “There is also a mace.” She speaks this time without stuttering.

 

**“Rusted. Dry. There was a time when this mace dripped with the blood of the feeble and the worthless.”**

 

“I-I can’t see anything else. Only the spikes of this trap.” Nayeon reached out and ran a finger along one of the spikes, wincing when she accidentally cut her finger.

 

**“Sharp, aren’t they? This was the last thing many saw before they were sacrificed in my name. But a Daedric Lord has his enemies, and my rival Boethiah had her priest desecrate this alter. Left it here to decay. Until you came along.”**

 

The spikes of the alter retracted back into the floor, allowing Nayoen to stand at her full height, “Wh-What do you want then? Revenge?” She weakly questioned the Deadra.

 

**“Revenge? No, I want submission. I want the priest who did this to bend his knee and give me his soul. He comes to preform Boethiah’s insulting rites at my altar, but he has been missing. Captured, bound, and left to rot.”**

 

Nayeon listened with intent as the voice recited his instructions into her mind. Embedding them deep within her subconscious. A dark mist rose from the floor and engulfed Nayeon’s legs all the way up to her calves. Long strands of the dark mist twist their way up her body up to her head. When the darkness had completely surrounded her, it began seeping into her body and enhancing any small about of magicka she had until she could feel the dark energy pulsing through her body. The wounds on her leg and face had been completely healed, all that remained were scars where the damage once was.

 

**“Save him, let him perform his rite one more time. And when he does. We will be waiting for him.”**

 

Nayeon returned to the entrance of the house where the guard lay dead. She took his sword out of the hilt and swapped it with her dagger. With a better weapon, enhanced magicka, and a mission given to her by a Daedric Lord, She left the house of horrors with purpose.

 

~ ~ ~

 

She found the priest held captive in a cave of bandits out in the countryside. The 14-year-old easily snuck past the bulky men to the where the priest was bound in a corner.

 

“I’m here to rescue you,” Nayeon whispered to the priest. She looked around to see if any of the bandits had noticed her but they seemed to busy drinking by the fire.

 

“Rescue? No one knew I was taken. Who sent you?” The priest immediately became suspicious of Nayeon and even attempted to move away from her.

 

“Does it matter? Here.” She reached into her pocket, pulling out the coin purse she had and set it down in front of the priest. He glanced down at the leather pouch then raised his bound hands towards her.

 

“Fine. I won’t ask questions.” When she finishes uniting him, they both slip away behind some tall rock outcrops toward the exit. Once they get outside, the priest starts running to Markarth proclaiming he has to single-handedly save humanity on the name of his beloved Boethiah. Nayeon scowls at his proclamations but follows silently.

 

Once he reaches the abandoned house, the priest heads straight to the basement. He continues into the subterranean tunnel until he reaches the foot of the altar. Nayeon follows stealthily behind him, never alerting him of her presence.

 

As he begins to speak, spikes spring up from the floor and trap the priest inside the sharp edges just as Nayeon had been.

 

“Molag Bal. You think you can best Boethiah’s faithful?” The priest shouts out at the Daedric Lord from the confines of the cage.

 

**“Ah. But I have my own champion this time, Park Jimin.”**

 

The sound of Molag Bal’s demonic voice reverberated off the walls of the underground alter. Stepping out of the shadows, Nayeon raised her sword.

,

“What? Jimin turned his head as best he can to see the girl who saved him creep out of the shadows, “You!”

 

**“Mortal. I give you my mace, in all it’s rusted spitefulness.”**

 

The sword in Nayeon's hand glowed bright white and flakes away into the air only to be replaced with the rusty mace from the altar. More of the dark mist from before winded itself around her arm, infecting her with even more darkness.

 

**“Crush the spirit from Park Jimin’s bones. Make him bend to me.”**

 

The Daedra commands and Nayeon follows. A few of the spikes retract to allow her easy access to Jimin. She raised the mace above her head with two hands and brought it down with all her might. The crunch of the priest’s leg echoed around the cavern causing Nayeon to smirk.

 

“AHH!” Jimin screams in pain but does not submit so Nayeon raised the mace again.

 

The foot of the altar is soon covered in the blood of the priest, limbs bent ways they shouldn’t, Moans of pain fill the room. One last swing of the mace causes Jimin to slump over. No more sounds can be heard from the priest. Only Nayeon’s heavy breathing from swinging the mace fill the cavern. She looked up from the limp body and wiped away the sweat forming on her brow, smudging blood across her forehead.

 

The bloody body began to rise off the ground as high as the spiked cage would allow. Glowing. Reviving.

 

**“Weak fragile mortals. Again.”**

 

The defenseless priest shivered in fear and pain as he watched Nayeon raise the mace again. She smashes the weapon down against his back getting the rusty pointed edges stuck in his already bloody flesh. When it is yanked out of his back Nayeon’s ears are met with a screech of pain from the priest.

 

**“Do you bend to me?”**

 

Another swing.

 

“Yes!”

 

**“Do you pledge your soul to me?”**

 

Another crunch.

 

“Yes!”

 

**“Do you forsake your pitiful Boethiah?”**

 

Another scream.

 

“YES!”

 

**“You’re mine now, Park Jimin. Kill him.”**

 

“NO! Stop! Plea-“

 

A sickening crunch silences the priest as Nayeon brings down the mace.

 

She removed the mace from what used to be the head of priest Park Jimin, dripping matter onto the liquid red floor. The spikes retracted into the floor once more and the mace in Nayeon’s hand begins to glow.

 

**“The mace of Molag Bal! I give you it’s true power, mortal.”**

 

The mace grows brighter and brighter. So bright that Nayeon had to shield her eyes with her free hand. She felt a stinging sensation in her hand holding the mace and looked down at her arm when the light faded away. The veins in her wrist and hand were glowing green, spreading up her forearm, to her shoulder, up until she couldn’t see the glow because of her sleeves. The once rusty but now polished mace was dripping with the blood of its first victim in centuries.

 

**“When your enemies lie broken and bloody before you, know that I will be watching.”**

 

Nayeon felt the power of the mace seep into her. Spreading from her shoulder throughout her whole body. She felt the need to kill. The need to send more souls to her master. To his dark plane of existence.

 

**“Now, I have a soul in oblivion that needs claiming. Take care of the house while I’m gone. Hahaha!”**

 

~ ~ ~


	7. The Bard's College

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A short chapter that introduces the last two members. 1827 words.  
> This is just a quick post before another long one. Please anticipate!

~ ~ ~

 

Built upon a natural stone arc over the sea, the great City of Solitude is surrounded by snowy peaks above and crashing waves below. The breathtaking stronghold is protected from attacks by thick stone walls and loyal guards, keeping those living inside safe from any form of danger. The country’s capital houses many important buildings, such as the headquarters of the Empire, the Eastern Trading Company Warehouse, the Blue Palace, and the reason Momo was here; the Bard's College.

 

They started off their trip with no problems: Dahyun had found her belt tucked in-between two books on the shelf in Mina’s room (Mina tends to organize books in her sleep) and could now walk around the college campus without having to hold onto her belt loops. Seulgi had prepared a huge breakfast for the group before heading out for Solitude, but she and Momo ended up eating half the banquette before Dahyun and Mina had come downstairs. And Mina, bless her heart, knitted scarfs for everyone because “It’s cold in the mornings.” 

 

The mages + Dahyun had made it all the way past Dawnstar before running into a little bit of trouble. Said trouble was bound at the wrist and was now following behind Mina, who had to be restrained whenever the captured woman tried to flirt with Dahyun. 

 

“Look, I don’t normally try to stab just anyone. I usually go for the pretty ones.”

 

“Momo, are you sure I can’t electrocute her again.” 

 

“No. Twice was enough.”

 

Dahyun did her best to ignore Sana, but after the fourth pick up line, she couldn’t stop the red tint on her cheeks. 

 

“Yah! Stop flirting with my girlfriend you snake!” 

 

The five women passed through the heavily fortified outer gate and into the bustling city. Strolling through the merchant's district in the front of the city, the women passed by the local inns where dunk men danced outside. West Solitude is home to several local businesses as well as the main gate of Solitude. The Winking Skeever is one of the more successful inns located in the city, due to its convenient location being near the main gate and the town square. Southeast of the inn is the town square, where various smaller businesses gathered to sell their daily catch of fish or their signature wines. 

 

Momo turned to Seulgi as they pass by the plaza, “Why don’t you take our flirtatious bandit here up to the guards near the castle and get her settled in one of their finest prison cells.” Seulgi smirked and nodded to the Archmage. When the group reached the end of the main street, Seulgi grabbed Sana’s shoulders and directed her left towards the area called Castle Dour where the military forces of Solitude reside. Before the two rounded the corner, Sana made sure to wink and blow the group goodbye kisses.

 

Momo, Mina, and Dahyun continue the other direction until they were at the steps of the Bard's College. The two-story building was tall on its own, but the tower in the middle of the building easily towered over any nearby structure making the whole college stand out against the resident homes. All those interested in song-writing and musical instruments attend the college to master the art. 

 

“You know, when I was in the orphanage, I used to dream about going to this college to learn piano,” Dahyun said as the three walked up the stairs toward the main entryway. 

 

“Really? Why didn’t you after you joined the guild?” Momo asked the pale girl.

 

“I don’t know. I guess when I found out how far the college actually was compared to Riften, playing the piano didn’t feel possible.” Dahyun shrugged and pulled open the door into the college. Entering from the courtyard brought them into a reception area. The three walked in to see a small woman speaking with two other people. 

 

“Seungwan!” Momo ditched her intimidating Archmage façade and ran up to the smaller woman engulfing her in a spinning hug.

 

“Momo! Its been too long, did you bring Seulgi with you? I haven’t seen that bear in forever.” Seungwan said after Momo had set her down.

 

“Yeah, but she’s taking care of some business up at Castle Dour. On the way here we were attacked by a sorry excuse for some bandits, so we took their leader with us and now Seulgi is getting her situated with the Solitude guards.” Mina spoke up behind Momo, still not over how much flirting was done by the snake.

 

“Ahh okay. Well, feel free to roam the college until she comes back. Momo could I speak with you.” Seungwan motioned for Momo to follow her further into the college.

 

Dahyun and Mina took that as a sign to start walking around. The first floor of the college seemed to be the college library, the kitchen, and the living area for the professors. When the two women finished (snooping), they went up the stairs to the second floor. Upstairs was where the classrooms were. A few students could be seen sitting at wooden benches writing down anything deemed noteworthy while others strolled down the hallways carrying books and musical instruments. 

 

“I can’t believe the burning was canceled.”

 

Dahyun’s trained ears overheard two students as they walked into a classroom. 

 

“Wait!” Dahyun called out to the two students and ran after them, Mina following behind, “What was canceled?”

 

The two students turned to face the thief. A girl much taller than Dahyun looked down at her companion before answering, “Umm… the burning… of King Olaf.” 

 

“Canceled?” Dahyun had never been to the annual festival and was really looking forward to it. Momo had been hyping it up; telling her about the meat pies and spiced wine. Now the pale thief was disappointed that she set her hopes so high. “Why was it canceled?” 

 

This time the much shorter girl spoke up, “The Jarl was recently challenged to a duel and was killed. Now his husband, Jackson, feels that the festival is insulting and refuses to allow the burning. Wendy tried to convince him that the festival is many centuries old and celebrates Solitude but he still refused.”

 

“Oh, that sucks. I was really looking forward to the festival.” Dahyun pouted and Mina walked up from behind, pulling her thief into a back-hug. 

 

“Yeah, now we don’t get to officially graduate.” The short girl gestured to her taller friend before continuing, “The only way to get the festival back would be to show Jackson proof that the burning of King Olaf is important to Solitude and not just a time for everyone to get drunk on spiced wine.”

 

“The burning of King Olaf is not only a yearly festival but also when students become official bards.” The tall girl told the two. 

 

“You can’t graduate! That's stupid. I’ll go right up to this Jackson fellow and make him change his mind.” Dahyun cracks her knuckles to prove her point. 

 

“As much as I would like to see that happen, Jackson is the acting Jarl now that his husband is dead.” 

 

“So.”

 

“That means he’s up at the Blue Palace which is always surrounded by guards.” 

 

“Oh…”

 

“I like your willingness to fight though. I’m Chaeyoung and this giant is Tzuyu.”

 

“My name is Dahyun and this is my girlfriend Mina.” Dahyun wraps an arm around Mina’s waist and pulls her into a side hug. The latter just gummied and returned the hug.

 

Meanwhile downstairs, Seungwan led Momo over to a corner of the library and gestured for the Archmage to take a seat.

 

“I’m assuming that you all came for the festival which, I’m sorry to tell you, has been canceled. Jackson has forbidden it because his husband, the previous Jarl, was recently murdered. He mourns Bambam deeply and feels that a festival that burns a King in effigy is distasteful. I’ve tried to change his mind, but he still refuses.” Seungwan let out a deep sigh and leaned back in her chair.

 

“Is there anything that I could do to help?”

 

“There is, to convince him, I want to read King Olaf’s verse. The Verse was Sooyoung’s contribution to the Poetic Edda, the living history of our land. Unfortunately, the verse was lost long ago.”

 

“And that's where I come in?”

 

“Yes, the verse criticized the reigning King Olaf. He was so incensed the bard was put to death and all the were copies burned. At least, that's what we thought until I translated some ancient texts a year or so ago. We now believe King Olaf buried the truth with the bard. If I'm right Sooyoung and King Olaf's Verse lie in Dead Men's Respite, along with the burial chamber of King Olaf himself."

 

“You want me to retrieve the poem and bring it back so you can read it to the court. I can do that. On one condition.”

 

“Anything.”

 

“I get three meat pies for free when the festival is back on.”

 

~ ~ ~

 

Chaeyoung brought the couple into one of the classrooms and lets them poke around. When Dahyun finds a small eight-stringed instrument and asks what it is, Chaeyoung tells her it’s a lute and begins plucking out a tune for the older woman. Tzuyu and Mina sat on one of the wooden benches where a book lay open on Mina’s lap. Tzuyu explained how the college didn’t just teach instruments and singing, but also the history of the land so that aspiring bards can major in tale-telling or song.

 

The four last track of time and ended up spending almost an hour playing musical instruments and reading books. That's how Momo and Seungwan found them; Chaeyoung and Dahyun sat at a piano while Tzuyu and Mina had created a pileup of history books.

 

“Mina. Dahyun.” The two perk up at Momo’s voice, “We’re going to help the college with the festival.”

 

“But I thought it was canceled.” The youngest in the room looks up from her books and towards the Archmage.

 

“For now yes, but we’re going to make sure this festival happens.” Momo looks a Mina and Dahyun before leaving the room. The two women  
stood up and follow Momo down the stairs and out of the college. 

 

“As much as I want to help Chaeyoung and Tzuyu graduate, how are we going to convince Jackson to allow the festival,” Mina asked the older mage.

 

“We’re going to Dead Man’s Respite to find King Olaf’s verse. Seungwan wants to read it to the court to show them that the burning is a part of Solitude’s history.” 

 

They continued through the streets of Solitude until they reached the main gate where a group of guards stood. Seulgi was talking to one of the three men while the other two kept their heads on a swivel as if they were looking for someone.

 

“Seulgi, What's going on here?” Momo walked up to the monolid mage. 

 

“Sana broke out of prison and is missing.” 

 

~ ~ ~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally have an ending in mind for this so that leaves about... 5 more chapters. But! I was also thinking of writing a connected one-shot about Nayeon. So if anyone wants more evil Nayeon before she ended up in prison just let me know. 
> 
>  
> 
> Stream Yes or Yes!


	8. Dead Man's Respite

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dah-mi-mo get the verse for Wendy
> 
> 4617 words

“Sana broke out of prison and is missing.”

 

“What! How?"

 

“After I took her to the barracks, I stayed to tell the guards how we captured her. I was just about to leave for the college when there was a large boom sound from the dungeon so we all rushed down there. The back wall of the cell that Sana was in had collapsed and she was nowhere to be found. Some guards went through the hole in the wall and found out it led to an abandoned part of the castle.”

 

“So she’s somewhere in the city?”

 

“I don’t know, maybe.”

 

“Well, why don’t you stay here in the city while Dahyun, Mina and I go out to run a little errand for Seungwan.”

 

“Alright. You’ll be back in time for the festival?”

 

“About that…”

 

Momo explained to Seulgi that the festival was canceled and Wendy needed to convince Jackson to allow the college to celebrate it. Mina stepped forward and told the monolid mage how the festival is also how students graduate from the college; performing one final song or poem to show all they have learned.

 

“So we are off to Dead Mans Respite to find King Olaf’s verse to convince the court.”

 

“Alright then, I’ll help the guards look for Sana and let you know if we find her when you come back.” Seulgi waved the three off as they exited the city.

 

~ ~ ~

 

Momo led the group out of Solitude and towards the Drajkmyr Marsh. Much of the marsh is nothing but uninhabitable land, consisting of sunken ruins infested with mud crabs and caves where vampires are often found. They pass by the capital of the Hjaalmarch Hold, Morthal, which is often shrouded in a thick fog and ominous twisted trees growing from the surrounding marsh. Morthal is foreboding to travelers approaching it, and the torches of the town glowing in the fog often give the impression of phantoms at a distance. Many travelers choose to steer clear of the place altogether.

 

The three continue along the bank of the wetlands before approaching a Nordic tomb that had sunken slightly into the swamp.

 

“According to Seungwan’s map, this is the place.” Mina looked up from the map the bard had given her and turns to the other women. Momo was carrying a sleeping Dahyun because halfway through the marsh the thief had remembered that she had not had lunch yet. Claiming her body was too weak to keep going and urging the others to go on without her, Momo just rolled her eyes and let the actress piggyback the rest of the way.

 

“Alright then, let’s find that verse.”

 

Upon entering the tomb; the three see a crumbling table in the middle of the ancient room as well as mummified bodies wrapped in linen laying on indented stone beds against the walls. Displayed on the table was a dragon claw cast out of ruby. The giant gem was covered in dust, having gone untouched for centuries.

 

“Wow, I’ve never seen a draugr in real life before,” Mina whispered while approaching one of the bodies against the walls.

 

“Draugr?” Dahyun asked.

 

“In Old Norse, the word ‘draugr’ meant ‘ghost,’ ‘spirit’ or ‘undead’.”

 

“Gods, you’re smart and beautiful. What did I do to deserve you.” Dahyun walked up behind Mina and back-hugged the mage.

 

“I know you two haven’t had the time to go on a date in a while, but a crypt isn’t really the place for romance.”

 

“Alright alright. And just so you know, I would have called them ‘creepy dead people in a tomb’ but draugr works just as well.”

 

Momo approached the center table and reached out for the ruby claw.

 

“Momo no!” Dahyun whisper yelled while pulling the Archmage’s hand away from the gem, “Do you want this whole room to collapse on us?”

 

“What?”

 

“Its obviously a trap. See watch.” Dahyun climbed over the table onto the other side. She pulled out a lockpick from her leather bracer and began fiddling with the other side of the display. A clicking sound was heard and Dahyun put the lockpick back in her pocket.

 

"Whoa. How did you know know that it was a trap.”

 

“Experience. This isn’t my first-time grave robbing.”

 

Another unlocking sound was heard from inside the room and a section of the wall on the other side of the table began sinking into the floor, revealing a tunnel that leads deeper into the tomb. They went through the tunnel, following the twists and turns until it opened into another burial chamber. Rotating stone circles blocked the other side of the room.

 

“I know that Nordic tombs were known for their complex traps, but I never expected this,” Mina said as she walked up to the next obstacle. They watched the circles slowly rotate until a large hole that let them see through to the other side spun into view. Dahyun quickly ran through the gap and to the other side before the gap rolled back up into the ceiling.

 

“What are you doing!” Mina yelled out hoping that Dahyun could hear her on the other side.

 

“It’s all about timing!” The two mages heard back.

 

Mina watched the rotating circle, waiting for the gap to appear again. Meanwhile, Momo had walked around the perimeter of the room until she found a dusty pull chain hanging from the wall. Just as the hole came down from the ceiling, Momo pulled the chain and the stone obstacle stopped rotating.

 

“How did you do that,” Dahyun asked after the two casually walked through the opening.

 

“Its all about timing.” Momo winked back.

 

Continuing further into the tomb, the next room had two circular grates in the floor. Right as they pass through the archway, two giant frostbite spiders dropped from nests on the ceiling. Igniting her hands in flames, Momo launched two fireballs at the spiders exploding the now dead arachnids across the room and against the back wall.

 

"I hate spiders." The Archmage shivered and continued into the room.

 

Mina walked to the right of the entrance where another chain hung covered in cobwebs and pulled down.

 

“AHHH!” The floor grate on the far side of the room under Momo retracted, causing the Archmage to fall down into the hole. Water splashed back up and on the edges around the hole. “MYOUI MINA!”

 

“Are you alright?” Mina and Dahyun looked over the edge only to see Momo standing waist deep in water.

 

“Yes, I’m fine, just waist deep in what I think is swamp water. And good news, I’ve found the way out of this room.” Momo said as she waded out of view of the others.

 

“I’m not jumping down there.” Dahyun looked over at Mina.

 

“That’s fine, you don’t have to.” Mina stood up and nudged Dahyun in the butt with her foot causing the pale girl to fall into the water below.

 

“MYOUI MINA!”

 

~ ~ ~

 

Mina gracefully joins the two down in the watery passage and smiles when she sees the to soaking wet women. Wading through the water until they are knee deep, the mages + Dahyun find themselves in a large, two-story room. Iron sarcophagi lining the walls burst open when the women wade further into the room. A draugr climbed out of each sarcophagus and began wandering around in the water.

 

“Now I know what you meant by undead.” Dahyun leaned over and whispered in Mina’s ear.

 

Dahyun drew her dagger and cast a fireball spell in her other hand while Mina and Momo engulfed their hands in ice and electricity. As one of the draugr waded closer, it sensed some sort of disturbance and grabbed an ancient sword strapped to its waist and quickly moved to attack the women. Momo shot a bolt of electricity at the draugr’s chest and it collapsed into the water. Now alerted, The other undead in the room all splashed towards the women with their weapons drawn.

 

Mina fired ice spikes into the head and body of a nearby draugr causing it to stumble in the water but the undead enemy stood up and continued moving. The draugr was brought down as Dahyun plunged her dagger into its back. Two other draugr in the room were shot down with Momo’s lighting bolts while another swung its axe at her head. The Archmage ducked and kicked the undead away while Mina prepared another ice spike. Launching it at the draugr, the ice impaled it against the wooden ramp that leads to the next floor.

 

The last draugr is brought down by Dahyun as she slashed her dagger across its stomach and kicks it backwards then throws a fireball. The three stand back to back, scanning the room for any more undead. When it seemed that all the draugr in the room were (once again) dead, Momo started walking up the wooden ramp to a cage-like door and a bridge leading out of the room.

 

Dahyun pulled Momo back once more and pointed up towards the ceiling where pendulum axes were attached to a wooden beam above the bridge. If activated, the axes would swing back and forth over the bridge. The thief examined the door until she found a wire that would release the pendulum axes. She pulled out another lockpick and began fiddling with the mechanism until the wire fell loose against the ground. After disabling the trap, the three safely crossed the bridge and go up a set of stairs.

 

The next room is a catacomb maze where many linen wrapped draugr and skeletons are tucked into holes in the walls. They silently make their way through the maze so they don’t alert any undead. safely making it through the maze, the three enter another chamber where a heavily armored draugr stood waiting for intruders. Behind the draugr was an enchanted gate

 

“Alright, Dahyun and I will attack it from opposite sides while keeping our distance. Mina, can you cast a bane of the undead spell?” Momo whispered to the others while watching the draugr sway with his large ebony battle axe.

 

“I can do that.” Mina slid behind Momo and began the incantation for the spell.

 

“Okay, let’s keep our distance. This guy is not going to be as easy to beat like the others were.”

 

Dahyun and Momo went to opposed sides of the room and approached the draugr. Before it could acknowledge their presence, Momo and Dahyun both throw fireballs at the draugr causing it to stumble back a few steps. The two ran up closer before the undead could recover and attacked again; Dahyun with fireballs and Momo with bolts of lightning.

 

Dahyun had to stop when her magicka had depleted but Momo continued to fire at the draugr. When the Archmage finally stopped, the draugr stood back up and rushed at the two. He raised the battle axe over his head before swinging at Dahyun. Momo dove and tackled her out of the way before the weapon could hit her.

 

“Move!” Mina was standing near the other end of the chamber with glowing gold eyes and a giant ball of light pulsing in-between her hands.

 

She took a shuffle step forward and launched the energy at the draugr. It made direct contact with his chest and launched him back against the enchanted gate. When he fell to the ground, the area the spell had hit began glowing and spreading until his entire body was glowing a bright gold and was surrounded in blue flames. The draugr dropped his ebony axe and started running towards Mina before exploding in a bright flash of golden light.

 

Mina dropped to her knees exhausted from the powerful spell. Dahyun ran up to her and engulfed her in a tight hug planting kisses all over her face and neck.

 

“That was so cool babe! You saved us!” Dahyun continued to pepper Mina with kisses while Momo walked up to the couple.

 

“Not only that, but you also unlocked the enchanted gate behind that guy.” The pair look up to see the glowing runes on the gate fading away.

 

“Just give me a moment then we can go get that stupid verse.”

 

~ ~ ~

 

Behind the sealed door was a wide hallway decorated with carved murals that led to a puzzle door. The large, ornate door featured three rotating rings with carved totem symbols. Dahyun’s eyes widened when she ran her hand over the stone carvings. She pushed against one of the rings displaying a wolf and watched as it rotated, showing the next symbol.

 

“I know what to do!” Dahyun shouted as she ran back down the hallway.

 

“Where are you going!” Mina shouted out.

 

“I’ll be right back!” That was the last thing the mages heard before she rounded the corner.

 

“Are you not worried about her?” Mina slumped against the wall and let out a sigh as Momo began casting a healing spell on the exhausted mage.

 

“Not when it comes to locks no. when she finds something that she wants and it’s kept behind a lock and key, she always gets in.”

 

“This sounds like you have personal experience with this.”

 

“One time I had to run an errand for Sowon, so while I was gone she unlocked every bookshelf in the Arcanaeum and rearranged all the books at random just because she was bored. The bookshelves are magically locked so there is no key and only I know the spell. I still don’t know how she did it.”

 

“Is that why you were so mad at her the last time she came to visit?”

 

“No. That was because she snuck up behind me with a fake beard and weird glasses on while carrying a plant. Now I have a potted plant in my room that I have to take care of.”

 

“Sharon? I love that little plant.”

 

The sound of wet leather brought their attention to the hallway entrance where a dripping wet Dahyun was returning. She was carrying the ruby dragon claw from the first chamber in the ruins.

 

“Did you go all the way back for that?” Momo scrunched her face in confusion and watched as the thief waddled by in her wet boots.

 

“Just trust me. I’ve always wanted to open one of these,” She walked up to the three rings and looked at the bottom of the ruby claw. She then reached up and pushed on the outermost ring and watched as it spun to show the wolf symbol. Dahyun pushed on the second ring and the third ring until the stone carvings displayed wolf, eagle, wolf then pushed the claw into the center of the door where three little holes were. She twisted the claw like a key and then pulled it back out. All the rings spun once more until three dragon symbols replaced the others. The door then started to sink into the floor, revealing the rest of the hallway.

 

“Oh, you have no idea how jealous Jihyo is going to be.” Dahyun smirked then set down the claw next to one of the walls and pointed at it, “I’ll be back for you.”

 

Mina and Momo just rolled their eyes and started down the hallway.

 

The mural hallway led to a large oval room where more than 20 draugr that sat undisturbed in thrones. The back of the room had a set of wide stairs that lead up to an iron sarcophagus.

 

“I think we might have just found the final resting place of King Olaf,” Mina whispered while looking around the throne room.

 

“We can’t cast any spells in here if we don’t want to wake up all,” Dahyun began counting all the draugr in the room, “twenty-six of the draugr.”

 

“I got this.” Momo took a few steps back into the hallway and began casting a spell. She created a purple orb in her hand and closed her eyes. She raised her hand with then flicked her wrist and the orb stretched out into a bow. Opening her eyes, Momo grabbed the magical bow and pulled back the string allowing a glowing arrow to nock itself in the string.

 

“Okay we get it, you an all-powerful Archmage.” Dahyun rolled her eyes and smiled.

 

Momo winked and walked back into the throne room.

 

“Just so you know, I can do that too.” Mina looked over at Dahyun who was Momo watching kneel down and shoot etherial arrows into the seated draugr.

 

“Yeah, but not with as much finesse as I can,” Momo said as she shoots one final arrow into the eye socket of a draugr.

 

“Whatever.” Mina pouted and walked past the kneeling Archmage into the throne room.

 

“No one has more finesse than my penguin.” Dahyun kissed Mina’s pouted lips.

 

“Stop kissing in front of dead bodies.” Momo walked over to one of the draugr and covered their empty eye sockets with her hand, “Stewart did not need to see that.”

 

“Momo. Don’t play with the corpses.” Mina scolds.

 

“Fine, see you later Stewart.” Momo fist bumps the draugr then walks up the stairs.

 

The three go up the stairs and approach the final sarcophagus. Expecting the lid to pop open and a boss draugr to climb out, they are slightly disappointed when they push off the lid and see the skeletal remains of King Olaf, or at least Momo and Dahyun are, Mina, on the other hand, was freaking out inside because they had actually found the final resting place of King Olaf.

 

Momo reached into the sarcophagus and pulled out a key. she walked over to the left of the stairs and unlocked an iron door. on the other side was another skeleton, but this one was still chained to the wall behind it.

 

“Oh my god! Not only was that King Olaf, but this is Choi Sooyoung, the bard who was locked up for writing the scathing verse decrying him as a fraud and a tyrant.” Mina bent down and picked up the blue book in front of Sooyoung.

 

“Is that the verse?”

 

“I think so.”

 

Alright then, let’s get out of here and get that book to Seungwan.”

 

Mina and Momo looked around the small room before finding a hidden lever that opened a secret passage.

 

“Wait!” Dahyun ran back into the throne room then came back with the ruby dragon claw in her hands, “bragging rights.”

 

The two mages just shook their heads and went into the tunnel with a giddy Dahyun bouncing after them. They followed the tunnel until they found themselves walking back into the first room that the ruby claw was in.

 

“Are you kidding me! We went through all that when there was a secret passageway that led right to where we wanted!”

 

~ ~ ~

 

They returned to Solitude by late afternoon, after spending half their day underground in an ancient crypt. Seulgi greeted the trio with news about Sana when they enter the college.

 

“We didn’t find her in the city, but now she’s wanted in four different holds for breaking out of solitude. If she’s found she will definitely be taken straight to prison.”

 

“Thank you, Seulgi for staying behind and dealing with that” Momo intertwined their hands and squeezed.

 

“Well, we found the verse and the remains of King Olaf himself.” Mina still wasn’t completely over that discovery.

 

“And I solved an ancient Nord puzzle door,” Dahyun added while raising her ruby prize. Seulgi just patted the top of her head while the thief smiled at her gem.

 

“You guys made it back! I was worried I see you out there for nothing.” Seungwan came from upstairs with Chaeyoung and Tzuyu following behind her.

 

“Here’s the verse you wanted.” Mina handed the book to the small bard.

 

“You actually found it!” Seungwan carefully opened the book and flipped through a few pages before her smile faltered, “Oh no. This won’t do.”

 

“What do you mean.” Chaeyoung and Tzuyu asked from behind.

 

“The copy is incomplete, it's aged to the point that parts are unreadable. And the parts that are readable... well... bardic verse has come a long way since ancient times."

 

“What does that mean?”

 

"It means I can't read it to the court. Without the verse, I won't be able to convince Jackson of the importance of The Burning of King Olaf Festival. If he isn't convinced of the festival's importance then he won't reverse his decision to stop the effigy burning. It means that the Burning of King Olaf, which the Bards College has held for time immemorial, won't be happening." Seungwan walked over to a nearby wooden bench and slumped down on the seat.

 

“Can’t we just… make up the missing parts?” Dahyun queries from next to Mina.

 

"Make it up? That doesn't seem appropriate... I suppose I could copy her style based on what you brought me but I have no idea what happened in between these verses."

 

“Alright then, what’s the first verse?” Momo clapped her hands together, ready to help Seungwan.

 

_“O, Olaf, our subjugator, the one-eyed betrayer;_

_death-dealing demon and dragon-killing King._

_Your legend is lies, lurid and false;_

_your cunning capture of Numinex, a con for the ages."_

 

 

"King Olaf was Olaf One-Eye? He famously captured the dragon Numinex and took him to Dragonsreach. What do we say really happened?" Mina sat down on the bench next to Seungwan. Everyone took a few moments to think of what could have happened.

 

“Olaf made a deal with Numinex,” Seulgi suggested after a few minutes.

 

"Hmmm, Olaf did become king and Numinex escaped later. It's entirely possible... and I'm sure the court will like that, I'm writing it in." Seungwan began writing and when she was finished she read aloud the next verse.

 

_"Olaf grabbed power, by promise and threat;_

_From Falkreath to Winterhold, they fell to their knees;_

_But Solitude stood strong, the land’s truest protectors._

_Olaf's vengeance was instant, inspired and wicked."_

 

"Strange. According to history, Solitude attacked Winterhold, but Sooyoung seems to be saying Olaf reacted. What do we say happened?" After another pause and a few ideas (two shot down from Dahyun because she really wanted the dragon to be a part of it).

 

“He convinced Solitude to attack Winterhold,” Mina said while covering Dahyun’s mouth so she wouldn’t say anything else that that could embarrass her.

 

"It's not the most exciting answer but the most likely. I'll write it in." Seungwan began scribbling in the pages, "It has a few final lines but that's all we needed to add. I need to head to court immediately and present this. You all should come." Seungwan stood up from her bench and left for the Blue Palace. Momo, Seulgi, Mina, Dahyun, Chaeyoung, and Tzuyu all followed the small bard up the cobbled path to the Blue Palace.

 

The group entered the building and passed through the large archway, ascending the sweeping flight of stairs that lead up to court.

 

"Ah, Wendy. I assume you are here to petition for the reinstatement of the Burning of King Olaf Festival."

 

"I am, Jackson. I wish to present King Olaf's verse from the Poetic Edda. Recovered this very day from the Bard’s Tomb."

 

"Ah, you mentioned something that would convince us the festival should take place but I didn't expect King Olaf's lost verse. Please proceed."

 

_"O, Olaf, our subjugator, the one-eyed betrayer;_

_death-dealing demon and dragon-killing King._

_Your legend is lies, lurid and false;_

_your cunning capture of Numinex, a con for the ages._

_No shouting match between dragon and man, no fire or fury did this battle entail._

_Olaf struck a deal to make himself king, Numinex let go though none tell that tale.”_

 

_“Olaf grabbed power, by promise and threat;_

_From Falkreath to Winterhold, they fell to their knees;_

_But Solitude stood strong, the land’s truest protectors._

_Olaf's vengeance was instant, inspired and wicked._

_Olaf gave orders, Winterhold disguises. An attack on Solitude total destruction to follow._

_His men dressed up and then went out to fight, but they reversed Olaf's orders much to Winterhold's sorrow._

_So ends the story of Olaf the liar, a thief and a scoundrel we of Solitude commit to the fire._

_In Solitude bards train for their service, they also gather each year and burn a King who deserves it.”_

 

The courtroom falls silent when Seungwan had finished reciting the verse. Jackson held her gaze for a few moments before nodding his head.

 

"You have proven your point, Wendy. The festival is truly a celebration of Solitude and a condemnation of false kings."

 

"I thank you and the college thanks you, Jackson.”Seungwan bows to the court then turned back to the group. “Unbelievable! You three have done us a great service here. I can't begin to thank you enough."

 

Momo puts her a hand on Seungwan’s shoulder and smiles. “You can pay me in meat pies.”

 

~ ~ ~

 

Once the sun sets the festival begins. Residents from all over the city came to the college courtyard where vendors had set up stalls. Momo had stationed herself at the meat pie cart and was now having an eating contest with Seulgi. Dahyun was bartering down the price of spiced wine so that she, Chaeyoung and Tzuyu could get drunk once the two officially graduated. Mina was speaking with Seungwan when the clocktower in the city chimed signaling the turning of the hour.

 

Seungwan bows to Mina and walked to the center of the courtyard to begin the main event:

 

"Welcome, people of Solitude! We of the Bards College are pleased to be here to celebrate the Burning of King Olaf as well as this year's graduates.” Seungwan waits for the applause to stop before continuing, "With the lighting of the effigy..." She motions for Momo to step forward.

 

The Archmage, after cleaning her appearance, approached the effigy and engulfed her hand in flames. She reached up and pressed the flame against it, holding it there until the whole effigy is surrounded in flames. “Please welcome our newest graduates.”

 

More cheers came from the crowd as the flames lit up the whole courtyard and students excitedly drank from their glasses of spiced wine. The celebration lasted a few more hours before residents drunkenly disperse from the college grounds.

 

“Thank you Seungwan for the free meat pies. They were delicious.” Momo lay on the grass next to Seulgi, both mages had extended stomaches from all the eating they did.

 

“I can't thank you enough for what you’ve done for the city.” Seungwan smiled down at her blissful friend.

 

Mina was holding up a very drunk Dahyun as they crossed the courtyard towards the group. “I think this one fit right in with those two graduates of yours.”

 

The group looked over to where Chaeyoung and Tzuyu sat under a tree, Chaeyoung passed out with her head on top of Tzuyu’s legs as the taller bard strummed on the lute. Slowly, Tzuyu began leaning over until the woman had fallen on her side still holding the lute.

 

Before they dispersed for the night, a courier ran up to the group breathing heavily.

 

“I have a letter for a miss… Dahyun?”

 

“That's this one but I’m her girlfriend.” Mina looked down at the thief that was now drooling on her shoulder.

 

“Alright, looks like that’s it. Till next time.” He said then ran off into the dark.

 

“Who sent Dubu a letter?” Momo sat up in the grass.

 

“It’s from Jihyo.” Mina opened the parchment as best as she could with one hand then read the letter. When she finished she looked up from the letter, her face as pale as Dahyun’s normal skin tone.

 

“What is it?”

 

”Markarth was just attacked… by a dragon.”

 

~ ~ ~

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The double update thing won't happen very often. I've just been avoiding schoolwork with writing.
> 
> Stream Yes or Yes!


	9. Falkreath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 3540 words. Don't worry, I didn't forget about Jeong.

~ ~ ~

 

Blistering hot flames poured down from the heavens. The market square was covered in glowing scorch marks and smoking bodies. The twin rivers ran red as more residents were burned alive. All bridges in the lower district had been consumed by hungry flames which grew hotter and more powerful with every gust of wind created by the great beast above.

 

Brilliant orange scales shimmered in the night sky from the inferno decimating the city. Arrows whizzed past the winged attacker as guards tried to defend their burning city. Another breath of fire exploded from the dragon’s mouth, incinerating everyone in the western watchtower. It circled out of the guards' range, then ascended into the smoke above the city before diving back down. Opening its wings a few moments before impact, the dragon twisted between the center crag and the stone walls of Understone Keep. The powerful draft created knocked down any guards on the ground.

 

Landing on top of the crag, the dragon scanned through the smoke for its next target. An unlucky group of guards caught its eye and the dragon blasted the group with its white-hot fire. Arrows came from all directions at the now stationary monster, the sharp metal embedding into its flesh. Releasing a deafening roar, the dragon took to the sky once again.

 

A lucky arrow struck the beast in the eye causing it to recoil and struggle to fly straight. The dragon plummeted through the air and crashed into the remains of the lower district. Smashing through the rubble, the ancient beast collided with the side of the mountain the city was built into and broke a hole through the ceiling of Cidhna Mine.

 

It stood back up and used its clawed wings to climb out of the crater it created, once free, it spread its wings and took to the night sky. The dragon circled the city a few more times before letting out another deafening roar and flying off into the darkness. The mighty city of Markarth now lit up the countryside with flames reaching above the city walls.

 

Down in Cidhna Mine, prisoners gazed up through the smoke and into the world that had been hidden from them for years. One prisoner, in particular, took shaky steps through the rubble of the collapsed ceiling while looking outside. She looked around the rest of the mine to see all the prisoners scrambling for the newly created exit.

 

“What are you waiting for? Let’s get out of here!” Another woman grabbed her hand and pulled her up the pile towards the street above.

 

The two, along with all the other prisoners, climbed out of the mine and entered the chaos outside. Cries for help came from every direction. The scent of burning flesh filled her nose with every breath she took. Flames licked at her bare arms when she passes by burning piles of rubble and bodies. Clouds of ash rose into the sky, hiding the stars from view.

 

Stepping over a long scorch mark on the stone street, the mass of escaped prisoners climbed through a hole in the wall created during the attack and ran into the grass outside. For some, this was the first time in many years they felt the sensation of walking on something other than the dusty stone floor of the mine. This was the case for Im Nayeon.

 

Nayeon had spent the last five years of her life secluded in Cidhna Mine. She had been captured when she was 18 and dragged to the deepest cell in the mine. She never saw any of the other prisoners. When she was forced to mine silver, she always had five guards watching her every move. They were scared of the power she possessed. No, they were terrified.

 

After years of sending souls to her Daedric master, Nayeon was the most wanted criminal in the country. Her kill count was disgustingly high and continued to grow as the days passed. Her ability to use Daedric magic made it easy to destroy anything she wanted. The lust to kill was strong and guided her on her sprees.

 

She was finally captured and sentenced to life in Cidhna Mine while in Morthal; in the middle of the night, she burned a family alive while they slept in their home. When escaping through the marsh, she encountered a group of trolls while a group of mercenaries splashed behind her. After torching the three-eyed creatures, an arrow lodged itself in her shoulder. Normally she would have been fine, but a generous amount of poison covered the tip of the arrow weakened Nayeon and she collapsed into the swamp. She was rudely woken up by a Cidhna Mine guard kicking her in the ribs then thrown down into the prison.

 

But that was not really Nayeon. Her life was stolen from her the very moment she stepped up to Molag Bal’s alter. The real Im Nayeon was a simple farm girl whose family was murdered and burned in front of her own eyes. This was who she was now. Her connection with her Daedric master had weakened throughout her years in the mine, releasing her from his possession. Although deep down she knew he still controlled her.

 

The escaped prisoners rushed to the Markarth stables and began piling into the available carriages. Nayeon was squished into a carriage that was bound for the small town of Falkreath. In its prime, Falkreath was a well-guarded stronghold that was able to withstand the Reachmen from the West but now only a few buildings remained.

 

The last time Nayeon had been to Falkreath was when she first started her killing spree. She was wandering through the woods near the town when she met a werewolf named Somi. the girl had just turned back into her human form when Nayeon found her kneeling in front of a dead man. Somi looked up towards Nayeon with utmost guilt and tears streaming down her face.

 

“I- I didn’t mean too… he- he- he was chasing me and I-“

 

“Shhhh. It’s okay.” 15-year-old Nayeon kneeled down next to Somi and pulled her into a tight hug.

 

Nayeon brought the shivering girl into a nearby cave and started a fire to help keep the young girl warm. Somi told Nayeon how she was a recently turned werewolf and was struggling with her transformations. Nayeon’s brown eyes glimmered from the flickering fire as she listened to the girl. The two spent the night together in the cave until Nayeon was woken up by a yelling Somi.

 

“Ahh! Nayeon get out, I cant- Ahh! I can’t control it!” The small girl seized and began to transform right in front of Nayeon.

 

Instead of escaping as any sane person would do, Nayeon smirked and her eyes glowed emerald green. She approached the werewolf and materialized her mace.

 

“I will send your soul to oblivion in the name of Molag Bal.”

 

Early the next morning, Nayeon left the cave wrapped in a fur coat.

 

The carriage ride was comfortably silent as the escaped convicts basked in their new freedom. Every now and then a few people would jump out of the carriage when they passed by small towns. Nayeon kept her head looking down to not draw attention to herself, only looking up when the others would shout at something in the distance.

 

When they pulled up near Falkreath, everyone jumped out of the back and walked towards the town. Nayeon followed behind the group still keeping her head low. Although it has been five years, she could still be recognized.

 

Flaking away from the group, Nayeon circled around the back of a building near the edge of the city and towards a line of drying laundry. She pulled a hooded cloak off the line and quickly covered herself. With her face now hidden from view, Nayeon walked along the edge of a stone wall until she was in the woodlands outside of the town.

 

She didn’t want to stay in one place for too long in case she was recognized. Even though Falkreath was relatively isolated, the possibility of someone spotting Nayeon and contacting authorities was very high. So she continued through the trees, avoiding any settlement that she happened upon.

 

By the time the morning sunlight peeked over the horizon, Nayeon was wobbling with every step. The cold night had taken its toll on her weakened body and now she found it hard to keep her eyes open. Her vision was blurring together and every pulse of her headache made it difficult to think. Just as she was about to fall over in exhaustion, she felt a pair of sturdy arms catch and pull her upright.

 

“Whoa easy there. How long have you been outside?” A hand lightly pressed against her forehead, “You have a cold and are clearly dehydrated. I’m going to take you inside somewhere warm and get you fixed up.”

 

“Wh- I’m fi- please… I don’t want- hurt.” She tried to speak but everything came out slurred. A few more steps and Nayeon blacked out from exhaustion.

 

~ ~ ~

 

After taking a long need break from the forge, Jeongyeon left her sister’s home and began the walk back to Whiterun. Her older sisters had bought a plot of land on the outskirts of Whiterun and now ran a successful farm. Once or twice a month, Jeongyeon would escape the inner walls of the city and spend the night with her sisters then leave in the morning. The three would often have dinner, as well as, a few bottles of mead and chat about the recent news.

 

The walk back wasn’t long and she had made the trip many times so when she saw a hooded figure struggling to stand ahead of her, the blacksmith ran up to help. Jeongyeon caught the person right as they tripped over the cobblestone path and pulled them upright.

 

“Whoa easy there. How long have you been outside?” She lightly pressed her hand against their forehead, “You have a cold and are clearly dehydrated. I’m going to take you inside somewhere warm and get you fixed up.” Jeongyeon heard a few mumbles and slurred words before the body collapsed against her.

 

She quickly lifted the unconscious person into her arms and continued walking up the path towards the city. Jeongyeon was used to moving around heavy metal, so carrying her sickly acquaintance was a simple task. As she passed by the Whiterun stables, the hood fell off revealing a woman with two faded but still visible scars across the side of her face. Her long dark hair was tucked into the back of the robes and she had pale skin as if she hadn’t been out in the sun for a long time.

 

Jeongyeon continued up the hill and through the main gates of the city. Luckily her workshop was near the entrance so Jeongyeon carried the women inside. She set her down in a wooden rocking chair near the fireplace and got started making a fire. She pressed her hand against the woman’s forehead to see if her cold had gotten worse and quickly went upstairs. She returned with a pile of blankets she kept for when a work day was particularly tiring and wrapped them around the still unconscious woman.

 

Jeongyeon walked towards the front door and gave one last look at the unconscious woman in the back before going outside. She quickly made her way up the street into the market plaza and pushed open the door to Bae’s Cauldron. She smiled at the Joohyun behind the counter and asks for a cure disease potion along with a few health potions. After paying she exits the shop with a bow and starts jogging back to the workshop.

 

When she pushed open the door she is met with the most beautiful hazel eyes staring back at her.

 

~ ~ ~

 

Nayeon woke up wrapped in a blanket and sitting next to a fireplace. She blinked a few times and took in her surroundings. The chair she sat in faced out through a doorway and into another room where weapons littered the area. Swords were on display racks, axes were piled up on a nearby table, and a set of armor hung over a body mannequin. The main room was defiantly a workshop of some sort since she could also see hammers and chisels in a box near the front door.

 

Sensing that she wasn’t in any immediate danger, Nayeon sat back in the rocking chair and faced the fire. The flames reminded her of the burning city she just escaped from. The fires had ragged through the streets, consuming anything in its path until all that remained were its glowing embers. But even those could start another firestorm with a simple flap from the dragon’s giant wings.

 

Nayeon was brought out of her thoughts by creaking of the front door. She looked away from the fire to see a woman carrying a brown bag and wide eyes.

 

“You’re awake.” The owner, Nayeon assumed.

 

“Yes.”

 

“Umm… I got you some potions because you were running a high fever.” She held up the brown bag and lightly smiled.

 

“Thank you.”

 

The owner slowly walked forward and reached into the bag, pulling out two little red bottles. She set the brown bag on the table in the main room and nervously continued towards Nayeon.

 

“Here.” She reached her hand toward Nayeon offering the two glass bottles.

 

“Why are you helping me?” Nayeon asked after she took the potions. She set the unopened bottles on her lap and kept eye contact with the woman.

 

“You were sick.” She awkwardly sat across from Nayeon on the edge of the stone fireplace.

 

“Hmm. Well, thank you again…”

 

“Jeongyeon.”

 

“Thank you, Jeongyeon, but I think it’s time I leave.” Nayeon began standing up from her chair only to be lightly pushed back down by Jeongyeon.

 

“No. You’re still not well yet.” Jeongyeon stood over her until Nayeon relaxed back into her chair.

 

“Fine.” Nayeon began to think that Jeongyeon actually didn’t know who she was and what she could do.

 

Most people would flee the room if they knew Im Nayeon was sitting in front of them. But not Jeongyeon. The woman truly believed that she was just some commoner and not a Daedric servant who had a kill list larger than the population of Solitude. What an ignorant fool.

 

Nayeon opened one of the glass bottles in her lap and drank the potion, after cringing at the bitter taste, a warm feeling spread throughout her chest as the liquid magically started to heal her.

 

“You’re probably hungry.” Nayeon nodded her head and watched as Jeongyeon exited the back room once more.

 

She heard footsteps above as Jeongyeon walked around upstairs. Once the woman found what she was looking for she quickly returned down the stairs.

 

“Here.” The short-haired woman held out an apple for Nayeon.

 

Nayeon mumbled out a thank you before biting into the red fruit. It has been far too long since she had eaten real food. All she was served in prison was water, bread, and, on rare occasions, a few small pieces of overcooked meat. If meat was a rare occurrence then fresh fruit was a godsend. After her first bite, Nayeon practically moaned into the fruit.

 

Jeongyeon blushed then smiled down at her.

 

“So… why were you outside?” Jeongyeon asked as she sat down again and took a bite of her own apple.

 

Nayeon swallowed and looked over at the blacksmith. The short-haired woman seemed genuinely curious about her.

 

“No particular reason. I just… need to keep moving.”

 

“Moving where?” Jeongyeon cutely tilted her head to the side like a puppy. Nayeon scoffed then shook her head.

 

“You really don’t know who I am, do you.”

 

~ ~ ~

 

“You really don’t know who I am, do you.”

 

The statement threw Jeongyeon off. What did she mean? Was she some famous bard or powerful wizard? That would explain why she was wandering near the woods.

 

“No, I don’t. Are you famous?”

 

The woman stared at her like she had grown another head before bursting out laughing. She cackled and slapped her leg as she rocked in the chair. After the laughter had died down, she smiled at Jeongyeon.

 

“I guess you could say that.” She wiped her eyes because she had been laughing so hard.

 

Jeongyeon raised an eyebrow then her companion started giggling again. The blacksmith didn't know what was so funny. Normally people don’t laugh at her jokes, It’s why all her friends and family call her No-Jam.

 

“I’m confused. So you’re famous?” The woman let out a few more breathy laughs before making a straight face.

 

“Not in a good way.”

 

“Oh, so you’re a mercenary.”

 

“No.”

 

“No?”

 

“As funny as your cluelessness is, I’d rather not talk about myself.” The woman leaned back in the rocking chair and took another bite of her apple.

 

“Oh. I’m sorry.”

 

The two sat in silence for a few minutes. The crackling of the fire and chewing of apples were the only sounds in the room.

 

This awkward silence was driving Jeongyeon insane. She wanted to fix it by starting up another conversation but she felt like she was stepping on eggshells around this woman.

 

When they both finished their apples, Jeongyeon tossed her core into the fireplace then reached out a hand for the remains of her acquaintance’s apple.

 

“I’ll throw it in the fire for you.”

 

“Thank you.”

 

She places the fruit into Jeongyeon’s hand who tossed it into the fire. The two watched as it blackened in the flames.

 

“It’s incredible.” The woman spoke as she kept her eyes glued to the flames.

 

“Fire?”

 

“It makes people feel safe and secure, the heat is comforting and soothing. The concept of returning from the frigid outdoors and creating something that can warm your body and cook your food is fascinating.”

 

“I guess it is.” Jeongyeon nodded along to the woman’s words.

 

The woman raised her hand and snapped her fingers, creating a small flame on the tip of her pointer finger.

 

“Woah.” Jeongyeon watched the small flame dance in front of her.

 

“But as much as people take it for granted, fire can take as much as it gives. If the hot flames are left untended, they can fizzle out. Or even worse, the can grow uncontrollable. All you posses can be destroyed by a rogue spark.”

 

She opened her hand and moved the tiny flame into the palm of her hand. The magical fire slowly grew larger to fit into the space provided. The woman looked up at Jeongyeon and watched as the blacksmith was enthralled by the display. She rolled the fire in her hand off a few moments before stopping.

 

“Jeongyeon.”

 

“Yes?” Jeongyeon looked away from the flames into Nayeon’s eyes. She saw a speck of green near her iris.

 

“I need your help.”

 

“With what?” The woman extinguished the fire in her hand and dropped it into her lap.

 

“I need to get to Winterhold.”

 

"Winterhold? That’s on the other side of the mountains. Why do you need to go to Winterhold?” Another speck of green flicked in.

 

“I need to go before he returns.”

 

“What?”

 

“Please, Jeongyeon. I’m tired of him telling me what to do.” The woman clenched her hands into fists turning her knuckles white.

 

“I don’t understand.“

 

“He’s coming back and I can’t stop him alone!” She stood up from her chair, dropping the blankets and glass bottles onto the floor. Half of her eye was green by now and she was breathing rapidly. “Please.”

 

Jeongyeon stood up and placed her hands on the woman’s shoulders trying to get her to sit back down. From their closeness, Jeongyeon could see how the emerald green in her eye warped and moved as if it was smoke. It shimmered and had small flecks of gold swirling in with the glowing emerald.

 

“Relax. No one is coming-“ The woman’s eyes rolled back in her head and she collapsed into Jeongyeon’s arms.

 

The blacksmith staggered back from the sudden weight then set the woman down of the blankets. She could see the veins on the unconscious woman’s wrist glowing green.

 

“Okay. okay. Jeongyeon, do something about the lady on the floor.” The blacksmith told to herself as she tried to stop herself from having a panic attack.

 

She rushed out of the back room and up the stairs. She grabbed two of her fur jackets and her bag of spending gold. quickly going back downstairs, Jeongyeon picked up the woman on the floor and struggled to get the jacket on her.

 

After grabbing a sword out of the workshop, the blacksmith pulled the woman onto her back and ran out of her shop. She locked the door and then rushed out of the city. Arriving at the Whiterun stables, Jeongyeon tossed the bag of gold at the man outside then quickly placed the unconscious woman on the back of a saddled horse.

 

The blacksmith climbed onto the saddle and pulled on the reigns directing the steed onto the cobblestone road. “You said you need to get to Winterhold. Alright then, then I’ll get you to Winterhold.”

 

 

~ ~ ~


	10. Dawnstar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The adventures of Minatozaki Sana
> 
> 4345 words

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oops, had a homework block and ended up zooming through the Halfblood Prince and the Deathly Hallows. Plus this snow isn't helping with anything so, here... have a chapter.

~ ~ ~

Peeking around a tree, Sana broke into a smile as she watched Solitude guards run along the upper wall. The guards were shouting out to each other as they ran along the entire perimeter of the city searching for the newly escaped bandit. Sana had made a break for the tree-line of the forest outside the city after she escaped, which was a story in itself.

  
After being tossed into her cell, Sana was forced to watch as all her well-earned coin, armor and weapons were shoved into a wooden chest and placed in a back room. Sana attempted to pick the lock on the door with a single lock pick she managed to hold onto when the guards took all of her belongings, however, the metal snapped when she twisted the lock too early, therefore destroying her only attempt at escaping.

  
She wandered back and forth around her cell listening to the cries and moans of other prisoners, who had been trapped down here much longer than she had until she grew bored. Leaning against the back wall, a few pieces of stone crumbled against her weight. Sana took a closer look at the wall and could see light through the new cracks. She looked behind her to make sure no guards were patrolling nearby before pressing her hand against the stones.

  
Slowly one of the stone bricks crumbled apart to reveal a backside to the wall. Sana smiled then pushed on another brick, however, this stone seemed to be holding up the rest of the wall. The brick broke and fell but not without taking a few others with it. This caused the whole section of the wall to collapse and crash down with a large BOOM sound. Eyes wide, Sana quickly climbed through the hole and ran down the tunnel.

  
She followed the twist and turns of the forgotten castle until she was under a manhole cover. Shouts behind her could be herd as she climbed up an old wooden ladder. Lifting off the manhole cover, Sana climbed outside of the hidden tunnel onto a raised ledge by the city entrance. She kicked the rotten ladder down from the hole and the wood snapped as it hit the stone floor below. The voices of Solitude guards could be heard from where Sana had just climbed up from as she pushed the cover back over the manhole.

  
Taking a deep breath, Sana peaked through the small holes down into the tunnel to see four armed men run past. They leaped over the rotten ladder and rushed out of view as they continued down the tunnel.

  
And now here she was, outside the city while everyone else was searching for her inside. She smiled at the stronghold before turning and running off into the woods. Sana continued down the hill using the trees to keep herself hidden from people walking along the main road. If they saw her, they would immediately know she just broke out of prison. It was quite obvious because she was still wearing the tunic the guards made her wear when they took her belongings.

  
It was about mid-day and soon the temperature would start to drop. The thin material of the tunic would be useless at protecting her from the cold. So she needed some new clothes, and Sana had enough common sense to know that if there was a big city, then smaller buildings would be nearby.

  
She stayed hidden in the trees until she came across a farm. As the bandit stealthily circled around the building trying to climb in through a window, a guard approached the farmer outside holding a bounty.

  
“If you see this woman, contact the authorities immediately.”

  
The bounty had a charcoal-drawn picture of Sana’s face as well as a surprisingly high bounty written under her name.

  
Inside the building, Sana had climbed into a bedroom and quietly opened a dresser. She pulled out a heavy fur coat and some gray trousers from the drawers then took a pair of boots by the bed. After sliding into the boots and pulling on the coat and trousers, Sana climbed out of the window and snuck back into the trees.

  
The bandit watched patrols of men walk along the cobblestone road as she made her way through the trees and down the hill away from the city. When she reached the edge of the tree-line, Sana was greeted with the busy docks of the harbor.

  
Two giant ships were moored at the marina where merchants could be seen loading and unloading goods from the vessels. A few smaller boats were also bobbing next to the wooden walkway of the harbor. It seemed impossible for the bandit chief to pass by unnoticed, but Sana needed to cross the river.

  
She approached the cliffside and dropped over the edge, sliding down into a patch of bushes growing below. Carefully, Sana crept out of the greenery and snuck over to the set of stairs that led down to the harbor. Instead of going down the stairs, Sana leaped over the railing and landed on the ground below. She pressed her body against the frame of the dock as she continued underneath the structure and towards the moored boats.

  
When the water started to lap at her feet, she reached up and began climbing through the protruding planks. Soon the bandit found herself in front of one of the smaller boats at the end of the dock. The only problem was, she had no way of climbing into the said boat without being spotted by the guards passing above, and the water below was too cold for comfort based on the random chunks of solid ice floating on the surface.

  
Sana’s grip began to slip right as one of the merchants unloading a box of cabbages tripped over a wooden plank that was slightly higher than the others, dropping his entire load. As the cabbages rolled everywhere, Sana took her chance to swing up over the edge and roll into the unattended dinghy.

  
She quickly untied the mooring line and pushed the small boat away from the dock towards the open water. Chancing a look over her shoulder, Sana caught the tail end of an argument between the merchant who dropped the cabbages and one of the Solitude guards. The guard gave the smaller man a rough shove in the shoulder and the merchant staggered back a few steps before rushing forwards and tackling the guard into the water.

  
The shouts from the harbor provided perfect cover for the bandit chief as she rowed across the river undetected. Once she was safely on the other side, she climbed out of the dinghy and ran under the shade of the giant stone arc above.

  
The noise from Solitude harbor faded away as she jogged North-East along the rocky beach and towards the familiar snowy hills from the day before.

  
The group of mages, that had her thrown in prison in the first place, took the long way around when they were going to Solitude. The five had passed through a small part of the Drajkmyr Marsh instead of crossing the icy waters under the great arc like Sana just did. It was much longer but a much safer path to the city.

  
After a few minutes of jogging to put a comfortable distance between her and the great city, Sana found herself at the edge of the familiar archipelago of small frozen ice chunks that had floated in from the ocean. The Ice and protruding masses of land in the freezing water separated her from her goal. In the far off distance, the hull of the Ice Runner could be barely seen through the light snowfall.

  
The water was deep enough for half of Sana’s boot to be submerged underwater but shallow enough to safely wade through without any spilling into the footwear. When the water began to deepen, Sana stepped onto one of the small icebergs floating by and continued through the archipelago by leaping from floating object to floating object.

  
By the time she had passed through the small isles and ice, the snow had thickened and dark clouds covered the sun above casting the hillside in shadows. Any previous form of visibility was gone, making it difficult to see anything.

  
It wasn’t until Sana, wrapped tightly in the fur coat, was right in front of the rock outcrop she and Jennie had hidden behind that she knew where she was. Looking over the fallen tree stump where her crew was tied to, The Ice Runner’s hull could barely be seen through the thick snowfall. The medium sized vessel was still beached along the rocky shore where Rosé and Lisa so wisely chose to “park” for the time being.

  
Sana made her way through the heavy flakes and inside her ship to find everything right where they left it. All the bounties yet to be filled, all the mead safely stored in Sana’s secret hiding place, and all the remaining gold the five bandits had collected over their adventures. The only difference was the sudden infestation of mud crab. The creatures must have been buried under the ground when the ship was crashed, creating an opening for the giant crustaceans to climb up through the bowels of the vessel.

  
The bandit chief slid past the mud crabs without alerting them of her presence then pulled open the wooden door to her chambers. Inside, she took one of the swords from her collection and went back outside to exterminate the infestation. No matter how stuck up and rude the elves were, Sana had a personal experience with an elvish maid in the neighboring country, she couldn’t deny that the craftsmanship in their weaponry was impeccable. The elvish blade easily sliced through the hard chitin killing the crustaceans in a single slash.

  
Once all the mud crab were eliminated and tossed overboard, Sana began prepping for a trip to Dawnstar.

  
~ ~ ~

  
Residing in perpetual snow and ice, the city of Dawnstar is relatively small compared to the neighboring city of Solitude. But when compared with Winterhold to the east, the fishing town seems bustling with life. Consisting of two rival mines, a small dock, a local Barracks, and a small number of residents, Dawnstar is not considered large but it's also not small.

  
The town’s guards were constantly patrolling through the forever snowy streets and around the border of the area. Dawnstar has no high walls to protect it from attackers, instead, the surrounding hills covered in trees and snow keep the city safe from the south, east, and west, while the enormous sea to the north provides trade and safety.

  
It took a bit of patience, but Sana waited near one of the snowy hillsides for one of the Dawnstar guards to walk by on a patrol. She waited until the guard walked past the snowy outcrop she was hiding behind before grabbing him by his shoulders and yanking him backward.

  
Caught off balance, the guard slipped in the snow and landed on his back causing the powder to fly everywhere. He wiped off the snow from the mask of his helmet and the first thing to greet him was a large rock coming at his face. His helmet chimed as the rock smashed into his head, knocking him out cold.

  
Grabbing hold of his fur boot, Sana dragged him further behind the hill and out of view of any other guards that happened to be nearby. Pulling off his helmet, the snow beneath the two slowly started to turn pink from the wound on the guard’s head. Sana continued to undress the man until he was left in just his undergarments, then used his own sword to slit his throat.

  
The armor was too big for Sana to wear normally but would do just fine for her plan: sneak into the Dawnstar barracks, free the girls, make Lisa and Rosé fix the Ice Runner, go back to plundering. No faults whatsoever.

  
Using the snow to wash off any blood from the helmet before placing it over her head, Sana left for the barracks in full guard attire. Perhaps if her life had gone a different way, she wouldn’t have become a bandit and maybe had done something others would consider productive like becoming a city guard. But that’s not where the gold is, so instead, Sana took to killing and taking what she wanted. Eventually, she met Jennie and Jisoo while killing vampires in the mountains, but that’s a story for another time, then Lisa and Rosé crashed into her life just like they crashed her ship into the frozen beach. Sana was never going to let that go.

  
Now the bandit was casually walking through the evening snowfall towards the barracks disguised in guard attire. She pulled open the wooden door and was immediately surrounded by the heat coming from inside the building. Two guards sat passed out in wooden chairs, Sana assumed that too much ale was consumed by both parties.

  
She made quick work of the two by pulling out her elvish dagger, a gift from the maid, and silently slicing open their throats. She took a now bloody ring of keys off the belt of one and then continued to the jail cells down the stairs.

  
“Whiterun is so far. It’s far from Dawnstar. It takes an hour by horse. I’m sleepy.”

  
“Jisoo, Stop singing. I’m trying to see how much straw I can stick in Lisa’s bangs before she wakes up.”

  
“She’s a heavy sleeper. You could draw on her face and she still wouldn’t wake up.”

  
“Ooo there are some bits of charcoal near the torch, go grab some.”

  
“Hahaha, now she had a circle around her mouth.”

  
“I never knew you such an artist, Rosé.”

  
“Thank you.”

  
Sana could hear the voices of Jisoo, Jennie, and Rosé echo through the small and relatively empty jail. The only people down here were the crazy quartet and a sleeping guard. When she reached the bottom of the stairs, Sana could see the three women huddled around Lisa, who was sleeping in a crumpled bale of straw.

  
The only other guard in the building was leaning back against a wooden chair with his feet up on a table. His face was obscured from view but snores could be heard coming from his helmet. Sana casually walked out into the room catching the attention of Jennie who tapped on both Jisoo and Rosé. The three women watched as Sana walked around the room until she stopped behind the single guard.

  
As she quietly drew her dagger out of its sheath, a piece of hay fell from Lisa’s bangs and landed on her nose, causing her to wake up with the loudest sneeze Sana had ever heard. The guard jerked awake as well and reached for his sword. He turned around to face the girls and ended up face to face with Sana, well, more like helmet to helmet.

  
“Oh… is my shift over?” The guard asked Sana while relaxing his grip on the sword.

  
“Yeah,” Sana nodded then pointed at the guard’s stomach, “I think you have a little… something, right there.”

  
As he looked down at his chest, Sana drew her dagger and slammed it into his torso. The blade went in-between his ribs and caused a cracking sound as Sana twisted the weapon. The guard cried out and tried to pry Sana’s hands off the handle causing the two to stagger and topple over the table. The wood splintered under both their weight and the items were strewn over the floor. The guard reached out and grabbed hold of a bottle of ale that had fallen off the table and smashed the glass over Sana’s helmeted head. The shards of shattered glass flew through the room and into the holes of Sana’s helmet while the alcohol stung Sana’s eyes.

  
The two separated and rolled away from each other, Sana covered in glass and alcohol, the guard in blood. Both drew their swords and swung at each other. The metal clashed over and over as Sana blindly swung and the guard struggled to stand up straight. The guard knocked Sana’s sword out of her grasp and charged at her, but she twisted out of the way before the sharp metal could pierce her skin.

  
The guard spun around to face her once more and was quickly met with Sana’s armored fist. The punched cause him to drop his sword and stagger back. Sana didn’t wait for him to regain his balance and swung once more. Blood ran from the holes in the helmet as Sana sat on top of him and socked him in the face with her metal gauntlets over and over.

  
Making sure he was dead with one final punch in the bloody headpiece, Sana stood up and faced the four women in the cell.

  
“Who… who are you.” Lisa asked awestruck

  
All four women gasped as Sana reached up and slid off her helmet, flipping her hair she did so.

  
“Happy to see me?” Sana smirked as they all stood up and rushed toward the cell door.

  
“Sana!” They said in unison.

  
Sana pulled out the key ring she had taken from the guard upstairs and unlocked their cell. Now reunited, all five bandits snuck out of the barracks and into the snowy night. They huddled together as they made their way back to the Ice Runner.

  
“Wh-wh-why is D-Dawn-st-star so c-c-cold.” Lisa chattered out.

  
“I don’t know. We wouldn’t even be here if you two didn’t crash the damn ship.” Jisoo smacked the brunette and the redhead on the head.

  
“If I can still move my fingers after this, I’m skinning you both alive.” Jennie threatened while exhaling on her fingers.

  
“Look, I said I’m sorry thirty times. What else do you want me to do?” Rosé looked up at Sana.

  
“Well, you can start by fixing the ship,” Sana smiled then squeezed Lisa shoulder with her bloody gauntlet, “And Lisa can help too.”

  
“Wh-wh-what?” The only response the bandit got back was a tighter grip on her shoulder.

  
“Wait,” Jennie stuck out an arm to stop the group from walking, "what's that up ahead?”

  
Further down the cobblestone road, a growing light could be seen. As it got closer, the bandits could make out a group of people walking down the road holding up torches in the night.

  
“Guards! Quick, into the woods.”

  
Sana pulled Lisa and Rosé by their coats and dragged the two over to the snow-covered trees. Jennie and Jisoo quickly followed behind and the five crouched down behind the snow bank.

  
“Why are there guards patrolling all the way out here?” Jisoo whispered to Sana.

  
“I may or may not have broken out of Solitude prison to come get you guys.”

  
“You broke out-“ Sana clasped a hand over Rosé’s mouth to keep her from yelling. When she removed it, Rosé asked her question much quieter, “You broke out of Solitude? How?”

  
“That's a story for when all five of us are not on a wanted list.” Sana whispered back.

  
The group walking down the road soon came closer and the bandits all gasped.

  
“Those aren't guards, those are the mages that captured us in the first place.”

  
“Wh-Why do we-we-we keep running into-to to them?”

  
“It looks like there’re more of them.”

  
“Yeah, the tall one is really pretty.”

  
“Rosé, stop drooling, it will freeze.”

  
“Shhhh! They’re right there.”

  
The group of mages from before quickly walked past the bandit’s hiding spot. They were still dressed in their colorful robes. If Sana was right, Momo was the one on the blue and Mina was in yellow. She definitely remembered Seulgi because she was the one who took her to prison. And the cute little one was Dahyun, Sana remembered her because she has the cutest cheeks.

  
The other two Sana didn’t know. The taller one that Rosé had been staring at was beautiful. Her posture was perfect even as she walked through the frigid night. The smallest one seemed strangely intimidating but adorable at the same time. Her cute little beauty mark could be seen in the torchlight as the group passed by.

  
“Do you think they went to Solitude to get those two girls?”

  
“I don’t know, but that tall one is hard to look away from.”

  
“You have frozen drool hanging from your mouth, Rosé.”

  
“Ca-ca-can we p-p-please get out of th-th-this cold.”

  
“Lisa’s right, we’ll go back to the Ice Runner then we’ll follow those mages. I want to give them a piece of my mind, especially the cute one in green.”

  
“What was that last thing?”

  
“Uhh, nothing.”

  
When the group of mages had disappeared into the snowfall, the five stood up and quickly made off for the Ice Runner. Lisa ended up catching a cold and Rosé was struggling to pry off the icicle of drool. Jennie and Jisoo quickly went into their quarters and began getting ready to chase after the mages. Sana cast the guard apparel off somewhere in Lisa and Rosé’s room, then returned to her chambers.

  
All five of the bandits met on the main deck of the ship and set out after the group of mages. It took quite a bit of jogging, but eventually, they caught up to the group of six women at the shores of Winterhold. The remains of the city towered above on the cliffside as the group followed the mages up the cliff path. Intense winds were blowing in from the sea causing the colorful robes to flap around. More snow continued to float down as the gap between the two groups shrunk.

  
When they reached the top of the cliff, the mages turned right and began walking towards a large stone bridge. Choosing this time to attack, Sana motioned for the group to split up so they could attack from all sides. Lisa and Jennie climbed up one of the snowy hills to the right of the group while Jisoo and Rosé circled around the abandoned buildings on the left. Sana continued straight up the middle until she was a sword-length away from the mages.

  
Drawing her sword, Sana reached out for Seulgi’s shoulder but was pulled back by a strong force. Her blade knocked out of her grasp, Sana was shoved face down into the snow.

  
“You have committed crimes against Winterhold and it’s people. What do you say in your defense?” The guard above her pushed her further into the freezing snow.

  
“Get off of me you asshole!” Sana tried to twist out of his grip to no avail

  
“That's what I thought.” The guard stated moving around above, he pulled out a thick rope and tied it around Sana’s wrists.

  
“By order of the Jarl, stop right there!”

  
Sana heard more shouts near the hillside where Lisa and Jennie were as Jisoo and Rosé were dragged over to Sana by more guards.

  
When all five had been captured and bound at the wrist, one of the guards motioned for them to be taken away.

  
“Enjoy the Chill,” he said as they were dragged to their feet.

  
The last thing Sana saw before a sack was thrown over her head was the light from the mages disappearing into the huge building across the magically suspended bridge.

  
~ ~ ~

  
The five are dragged through the snow and placed into a carriage. They couldn’t see where they were going because of the sacks over their heads. Eventually, the rocking of the carriage stopped and water could be heard nearby. They were forced out of the carriage and onto a rickety boat. They sailed for a while through the frigid ocean until one of the guards started shouting.

  
“Separate cells. Don’t let these five anywhere together, especially that one. She’s the one who broke out of Solitude.”

  
With a kick to the stomach, Sana was thrown off the boat onto solid ice, the cold seeping into her already freezing body. More grunts were heard as her crew were also thrown off the boat onto the ice. A strong pair of hands grabbed Sana by her bound hands and yanked her upright then began dragging.

  
The chime of keys on a key ring echoed through the cave the five bandits had been dragged into. The hands pulled once more and tossed Sana onto the hard ice again. A metal door screeched as is was slammed shut next to Sana’s head. Once all the bandits were thrown into their cells, footsteps echoed through the frozen cavern signaling that the guards were leaving.

  
Rolling onto her side, Sana struggled to pry the sack off of her head. When she could finally see, she was greeted with the bars of a metal cage. The space was barely high enough to stand up in. The cage itself was one of many inside the room of pure ice.

  
Still, with a bag over her head, Rosé was curled into a ball in the cell adjacent to Sana while Jennie and Jisoo were both sitting cross-legged in theirs. Lisa was a chattering mess in the cell furthest away from the four.

  
The only other living thing in the cave was a massive frost atronach. The giant magical creature was made completely out of ice, and if it wasn’t swaying back and forth, it would look just the like the giant Ice stalagmites erupting from the floor. Sana assumed that if it saw anyone trying to escape, it would leap into action and crush them to death with its giant frozen ice spears.

  
A few of the other cells had the remains of past inmates. Frozen in the same position they died in, probably from hypothermia or starvation. The guards were kind enough to let the five bandits keep their fur-lined armor but nothing else. No food. No water. And the worst thing about this place; the freezing wind outside was nothing compared to the surrounding chill of the cavern.

  
~ ~ ~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, I might have busted out the 11th chapter in one day... so be prepared?


	11. The Prophecy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sana's gone for good :(  
> But what's that on the horizon? could it possibly be... 2yeon? ;)
> 
> 4226 words

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One more left.

~ ~ ~

 

The College of Winterhold is a very curious structure. The building itself is located on top of a large cliff, and the only thing connecting the college to the mainland was a narrow, zigzagging bridge suspended over the ocean below. The bridge is intimidating not just because of the powerful mage that guards it, but because of its state of disrepair.

 

Across the bridge is the central courtyard. A fountain statue of the first Arch-Mage of the college, Lee Jieun or more commonly referred to as IU, dominated the middle of the courtyard. The hub of the facility offered access back out to the bridge or into the three Halls.

 

The Hall of Attainment, the living quarters for mage apprentices, is the left tower upon entering the courtyard, while the Hall of Countenance, the living quarters for more advanced mages, is the tower off to the right. Straight ahead through two enormous doors was the Hall of Elements, the lecture hall of the college. Above the Hall of Elements was the Arcanaeum, the college’s extensive library, and above that was the Archmage’s quarters.

 

What makes the college curious is its history. Winterhold was once a great, powerful and wealthy hold, and its relationship with the college was good. But over two hundred years ago, an unprecedented event struck Winterhold and most of the areas along the coastline. A massive storm came from the Sea of Ghosts bringing huge waves and extreme weather.

 

Most of the city fell into the ocean below, leaving the city in ruin both physically and emotionally. Physically in terms of destruction and emotionally in terms of the psychological damage done to Winterhold’s people. This event would eventually be referred to as "The Great Collapse." The disaster left Winterhold in ruins, however, the college was practically unaffected.

 

It is often believed that the activities at the college that caused the disaster; the only evidence supporting this is that only the building remained almost untouched. The college has since been cautious as to avoid provoking the population. The only positive relationships the country has with the College of Winterhold are requests for various items to be enchanted and calls for aid.

 

Many fear those living inside the college, claiming they are all part of a cult or something along those lines, but Jihyo doesn’t. She knows what the residents were really like. Yes, they had a passion for something hard to wrap one's head around, but they didn’t let that passion blind them. Almost all the staff of the college had been kind to Jihyo when she first started visiting with Dahyun.

 

Some even offered to teach her magic to help in her field. Illusion spells soon became her and Dahyun’s specialty; the detect life spell was useful for identifying how many people were in a building and the muffle spell kept their movements soundless. One of the staff even promised to teach Jihyo an invisibility spell.

 

But out of all the mages at the college, Jihyo’s favorite had to be Momo. The woman carried the heavy burden of Archmage but didn’t let that stop her from enjoying her life. From the few times she had been to the college, Jihyo watched Momo interact with staff and students, eat more than humanly possible, and perform mesmerizing spells.

 

When Jihyo had first met Momo, the thief believed her to be far too young for such a position of power. However, when the Sowon explained how Momo had come to be Archmage, Jihyo couldn’t help but be impressed.

 

According to Sowon, Momo had come to the college from a foreign country seeking knowledge. The young mage had claimed she learned all she could in her homeland and wished to expand her views on magic. Over time, young Momo had built a strong reputation for herself inside the college and eventually went with a group to investigate the excavated ruins of Saarthal.

 

Unintentionally, Momo and one of the professors ended up in the depths of Saarthal where an ancient magical orb lay hidden. The group had taken the orb back to the college and one of the students had become, for lack of better word, possessed by its power. The student forced everyone out of the college with new magical abilities and attempted to gain even more power from the orb.

 

Momo was sent by the previous Archmage to find a magical staff that was affiliated with the orb. This involved fighting her way through a mountain full of cannibalistic elves called Falmer and delving deep into the forgotten ruins of Labyrinthian to fight an undead priest and his minions.

 

When Momo had returned from her assignment, news of the Archmage’s death shocked the young mage. He was cast over the edge of the bridge when fighting the possessed student. The rest of the professors and Momo successfully defeated the student and Momo was given the Archmage title.

 

Now the young Archmage was about to face something that was widely believed to be nothing but a legend, until last night.

 

RM had sent Jihyo on a quick job that put her in the area near the attack. She had seen the giant beast fly overhead with her own eyes. As quickly as she could, Jihyo wrote and sent a letter to Dahyun before setting off for Winterhold herself. She and the younger thief are always in contact with each other, so Jihyo knew she was in Solitude for the Burning of King Olaf.

 

So here she was, wrapped in a thick fur coat walking up the spiral stairs to the college’s library. Solji had quickly rushed Jihyo across the narrow bridge when she showed up in the early morning with a slight cold.

 

Solji told her that the girls were waiting in the Arcanaeum and handed her a cure disease potion and a heavy fur coat. As she made it up the final step, Dahyun’s familiar voice echoed throughout the room.

 

“Jihyo!”

 

“Dahyun!” Jihyo shrugged off her coat rushed over to her small thief.

 

“We came back as fast as we could when we got your letter.” Mina’s concerned face appeared behind Dahyun.

 

“Come, sit down.” Momo’s voice was serious as she led the older thief further into the Arcanaeum.

 

“Mina’s been searching for anything related to dragons.” Dahyun gestured at the large pile of books the mage had pulled out of the shelves.

 

“Jihyo,” Momo led the smaller woman over to one of the leather chairs in the reading area, “I need you to tell me everything that happened.”

 

“I was out in Karthwasten on a job when someone pointed out a strange light in the distance. It took a few moments for me to realize that it was actually Markarth. The whole city was on fire and there was something above it that was making more. At first, I thought it was a mage of some sort casting powerful destruction spells, but then I heard the roar. A few minutes later, the fire stopped coming down from the sky and something flew out of the city. I know I sound crazy but then it flew over Karthwasten. It was a dragon. I know for a fact it was.”

 

Momo nodded at everything Jihyo said and when she finished, the Archmage leaned back in her own seat thinking to her self.

 

“Dragons, how is that possible. I thought they went extinct in the first era.” Momo crossed her arms as she spoke.

 

“I know it sounds impossible, but I’m telling the truth.” Jihyo pleaded with the Archmage.

 

“I believe you Jihyo.” Dahyun knelt down next to her mentor and squeezed her hand.

 

“As do I, but I need proof before we start jumping to conclusions.” Momo stood and walked over to Mina and her pile of dusty books. “Anything?”

 

“All I’m finding is folklore and short texts about the god Akatosh.” Mina said as she flipped through more aged pages.

 

“That makes sense, Akatosh is depicted as a dragon.” Seulgi’s voice came from the other end of the circular room as she helped search for more books.

 

“Oh! Here’s something, it’s a prophecy of some sort.” Mina walked into the center of the room.

 

_“When misrule takes its place at the eight corners of the world,_

_When the Brass Tower walks and time is reshaped,_

_When the Thrice-blessed fail and the Red Tower trembles,_

_When the Dragonborn Ruler loses his throne and the White Tower falls,_

_When the Snow Tower lies sundered, kingless, bleeding,_

_The World-Eater wakes, and the Wheel turns upon the Last Dragonborn.”_

 

When Mina looked up form the page, everyone was staring at her. Momo took the book from her hands and read over the passage again.

 

“Dragonborn. Whats a Dragonborn?” Momo asked the group of women.

 

“It’s a person.”

 

All the heads in the room turned towards Chaeyoung.

 

“A what?”

 

“A Dragonborn is a person with the blood and soul of a dragon, but the body of a mortal.”

 

“How do you know this?” Momo asked, now standing in front of the small bard with her hands on both Chaeyoung’s shoulders.

 

“My grandfather is a Greybeard.” Chaeyoung told the older in a quiet voice.

 

“A Greybeard.” Momo drops her hands and looks up in thought.

 

“What does that mean? Greybeard?” Jihyo asked, still sitting in her leather chair.

 

“The Graybeards are an order of philosopher monks who are masters of the Way of the Voice. They live in silent isolation in High Hrothgar atop the Throat of the World, the largest mountain in the country. My grandfather is one of the few left. He tried to teach my father the Way of the Voice but he refused. The only reason I know all this is because my father didn’t want me to be left in the dark about my family’s history.” Chaeyoung told the others.

 

“Don’t the Greybeards live in absolute silence?” Mina asked.

 

“Yes, when the Greybeards speak, storms brew above High Hrothgar, and people are forced to evacuate due to the imminent danger of avalanches. When they so much as whisper, it rumbles through the world, and the mountains shake. The last time that they spoke was when they announced the greatness of GDragon, the first Emperor of the YG dynasty.” Chaeyoung explained.

 

“Hold on I have a question,” Dahyun raised her hand for the others to see, “What’s the Way of the Voice?”

 

“Dragon language.”

 

“Woah.”

 

“Well, according to this prophecy, I think the wheel has turned to the Last Dragonborn.” Mina interrupted taking the book once more from Momo.

 

“What makes you think that?” Seulgi poked her head around the corner.

 

“All of us, besides Chaeyoung, had never even heard the term Dragonborn. If we have all forgotten about them, then the last one should be in hiding, yes?”

 

“That makes sense.” Chaeyoung spoke up, agreeing with Mina.

 

“But does that mean the Dragonborn will stop the dragons? Who says the guy won’t turn on us and join them.” Momo pointed out.

 

“Good question. But we won’t know until we meet him.” Mina said as she carefully marked the page with the prophecy and closed the book.

 

Momo cleared her throat to get everyone’s attention.

 

“For now I think we all need some rest. We’re still tired from our trip from Solitude and Jihyo just got here. Look at her, she can barely keep her eyes open,” everyone turned to the thief in the chair to see her head slowly dipping, “Chaeyoung, Tzuyu, you both are welcome to stay on the Hall of Attainment.”

 

With the Archmage’s announcement through the Arcanaeum, the group split ways for the night. Chaeyoung and Tzuyu leaving for the Hall of Attainment, Mina, Dahyun, Jihyo and Seulgi heading for the Hall of Countenance, and Momo going upstairs.

 

~ ~ ~

 

Snow. Nothing but snow for all the eye could see. Snow burring the mountainside under pure white. Snow plummeting down from the constant grey sky. Snow dancing in the strong wind. Treacherous cold covered the region of the Pale casting the land in white. The only thing that could disturb the frozen blanket was a weary traveler. Or two.

 

A small black dot on the horizon pushed through the onslaught of powder. Two figures on horseback were covered in thick flakes, making it difficult to distinguish them. The only proof that they were moving was the trail of deep footprints their steed was leaving behind.

 

Jeongyeon and her sickly acquaintance had been traveling through the Pale’s downfall since mid-afternoon, and were about to break through to the other side as the light of the day disappeared. Both of their fur coats were completely white and the only source of heat came from their horse and each other. No gap between the two riders to let the cold in there too.

 

Soon, the snow began to lighten as they reached the end of the Pale and entered Winterhold. The remains of the city could finally be seen through the snow as less and less fell. Jeongyeon felt her companion slipping in the saddle and pulled her upright.

 

“We’re almost there, don’t give up now.”

 

No response. She hasn’t gotten one since they left Whiterun. Jeongyeon would speak with her companion every once in a while to check on her. The glowing emerald eyes could no longer be seen, for they were hidden behind closed eyelids, but there was a faint sign of life in the woman’s veins. The green lines had stretched up from her wrist and were now wrapping themselves up her neck.

 

“Look, there’s the city. We made it.”

 

They swayed back and forth as the horse walked into the snowy remains of the city. They passed by the local inn and a few guards waved up at the snow-covered travelers. The college loomed unnervingly in the snowfall but Jeongyeon directed the reins towards the intimidating building. She pulled the horse to a stop and climbed down, careful not to knock over the unconscious woman. Slowly, she lifted her snow-covered companion off the saddle and carried her bridal style up towards the college.

 

“Halt! What is your purpose for crossing the bridge?” A woman with fiery red hair stood at the entrance to the bridge. Her arms were crossed but through the thin material of the robes she wore, the muscle could be seen.

 

“I need to get into the college,” Jeongyeon slightly raised the woman in her arms, “She has a magical illness and told me she needed to come here.”

 

“What kind of illness?” The woman uncrossed her arms and walked down the slope towards Jeongyeon.

 

“I don’t know, I’ve never seen it before.”

 

The red-haired mage stuck out a hand to feel the woman’s forehead but jerked it back at the contact. Eyes wide, she looked up at Jeongyeon.

 

“Quick, follow me.”

 

~ ~ ~

 

Momo’s sleep is disturbed by a wild Sowon bursting into the room.

 

“Momo!”

 

She sat up and groggily rubbed at her eyes. Reluctantly, Momo climbed out of her fur-covered bed and stretched her arms up into the air with a long sigh. The past to days of travel had taken its toll on the Archmage, so as soon as she laid down, she was out like a light.

 

“Momo! This is urgent!”

 

“I’m coming, Sowon!” Momo yelled from behind her wall as she pulled on her clothes.

 

With a final yawn, Momo rounded the section of the wall separating her personal side of the room and found Sowon pacing back and forth in the archway that led into the circular room.

 

“What is it?” The Archmage sleepily asked the pacing advisor.

 

“Solji is crossing the bridge with two women, one of them is under Daedric possession.”

 

That woke Momo up. The Archmage’s eyes widened at the information. She hadn’t had to deal with possession since the previous Archmage. Just as she opened her mouth to speak, the wooden doors at the staircase burst open and Solji appeared with two women behind her. One with short hair, the other being carried in her arms.

 

“Bring her in here.” Momo told the short haired woman.

 

She quickly walked through the archway and presented the unconscious woman to Momo. The Archmage waved her hand and the limp body floated out of the arms of the short-haired woman.

 

“’What is your name?” Sowon asked from behind Solji.

 

“Jeongyeon, but I don’t know her name.” Jeongyeon pointed at the hovering body Momo was inspecting.

 

“Im Nayeon.” Momo whispered under her breath.

 

“Im Nayeon!” Jeongyeon shouted out. “That's not possible, she’s in prison!”

 

“Well not anymore.” Momo removed the hood off of the floating body to be met with Nayeon’s scarred and veiny face.

 

Momo’s eyes glowed a faint gold as she began reciting spells, her hands raised over Nayeon. Two orbs of pulsing yellow light appeared in her palms and she pressed down on the unconscious body. Immediately, the Archmage was launched backwards into the room. Her back slammed into the large stone wall and she fell to the ground. Nayeon stopped floating and collapsed onto the stone floor.

 

“What just hap-“ Jeongyeon was cut off as Nayeon opened her emerald green eyes.

 

Momo rose up from behind the illuminating tree and rushed back over to Nayeon. With her eyes still glowing gold, Momo tried casting another spell but a veiny hand reached up and tightly grasped her wrist.

 

“Run!” Momo told Jeongeyon, Sowon, and Solji right as a flash green light shot Momo backwards.

 

The Archmage crashed into her alchemy table, smashing wood and glass everywhere while Nayeon began to stand up. Momo engulfed her hands in flames as she lay in the wreckage of the alchemy lab and Nayeon twitched her fingers. Bright green particles appeared and swirled around Nayeon’s right hand. They began forming a glowing light until The Mace of Molag Bal appeared in her hand.

 

“Molag Bal, it all makes sense now,” Momo climbed out of the splintered remains of the table and walked towards Nayeon, “you’ve been under his control all your life. Haven’t you?”

 

Nayeon smirked and swung the glowing mace and the Archmage. Momo ducked and launched a fireball towards the possessed woman. The magical fire fizzled out into nothing as it came in contact with Nayeon’s body.

 

“I will send your soul to Oblivion.” Nayeon threatened as she stalked towards the Archmage.

 

“Not if I get that Daedric lord out of your mind first.” Momo summoned a shimmering purple sword and raised the weapon at her opponent.

 

~ ~ ~

 

Jeongyeon made it outside with Sowon and Solji just as a crash is heard from behind them. The three women turn around to watch Momo fly through a window and Nayeon jump out after her. The two were outside on the upper level of the courtyard and could be seen clashing weapons in the snowfall.

 

Momo flipped out of the way of the mace and launched a lightning bolt at the possessed woman. The magic was deflected and the electricity instead flew down into the courtyard, scorching the stone buried underneath the snow.

 

“Be careful! She can use-“ Jeongyeon yelled up to the Archmage right as a blast of fire shot Momo against the Hall of Attainment. “Fire magic.”

 

The women on the ground watched as Momo stood and raised her weapon once more. Blood was dripping from a wound on the Archmage’s head and white burn marks were already visible from the fireball she was just hit with. The two clashed weapons over and over along the top of the courtyard.

 

As the mace and sword collided, Momo slid her weapon into one of the many spiny groves of the mace and ripped it from Nayeon’s grasp. The mace flipped over the edge of the second floor and fell into the snow near the fountain below.

 

Nayeon began throwing fireball after fireball at Momo. The Archmage deflected each one by casting wards and leaping out of the way. A lucky ball of flames caught Momo in the arm causing her to keel over and grip the sizzling flesh.

 

She was lifted into the air and thrown on top of the stone railing. The impact knocked the wind out of the Archmage, leaving her gasping for breath as Nayeon’s hand became encompassed in ice. The possessed woman pressed the sharp icicle against Momo’s throat and began pushing the ice past the skin. Momo let out a gargled screech of pain as blood flowed out from her mouth.

 

The Archmage grabbed the arm pushing into her and released a bolt of electricity into Nayeon. She recoiled away from Momo and collapsed onto the ground. Both women took a moment to catch their breath before engaging once more.

 

Nayeon let out a demonic scream and charged at Momo, tackling the bloody Archmage. Both women fell over the railing just like the mace and plummeted down into the courtyard. They landed on a thin layer of snow and the sound of cracking bones echoed through the college.

 

No one moved for a few moments but then one of them started to twitch. Nayeon slowly kneeled over the Archmage, blood dripping from a large gash on her temple into the snow. She took Momo’s head into her bloody hands and the green veins glowed brighter.

 

“Your soul belongs to the Void.” Nayeon’s demonic voice rung out.

 

“NO!”

 

Bright spheres of light crashed into Nayeon, knocking the possessed woman off the Archmage. Seulgi and Mina stood in the snow outside with glowing eyes. Both women had cast a bane of the undead spell when they came outside to find Im Nayeon with a broken Momo in her hands.

 

Nayeon stood back up while the gold light and blue flames surrounded her body. She stalked back over to Momo once more but, before she reached the Archmage, crumpled into the snow. Dark tendrils rose out of Nayeon’s seizing body and evaporated into the air. The mace buried in snow also began glowing gold and started flaking away into the night sky. Everyone watched as Nayeon screamed and the darkness left her body. Permanently.

 

Seulgi and Mina rushed over to the crumpled mass that was Momo. The snow under her was pink with blood and third-degree burns were visibly coving the Archmage’s arms and neck. Her throat looked as though a wolf had bitten her and scarlet blood covered her entire torso. Mina pressed some snow on the woman’s wounds while Seulgi cast all the healing spells she could think of.

 

“Hold on Moguri.” Mina pleaded while looking into the glassy eyes of the dying Archmage. Momo’s heartbeat was faint and her blood was beginning to stain Mina’s hands.

 

Seulgi cast one final healing spell and Momo was surrounded in a blue veil of transparent magic. The blood stopped flowing from her wounds and started returning into her body. The pink tint of the snow slowly absorbed back into Momo. Once it had completely disappeared, it looked as though she had fallen asleep in the snow.  


A collective sigh echoed through the courtyard as all the students and staff watched their Archmage fall into a healing coma.

 

One woman in the crowd approached Nayeon’s unconscious body and knelt over her.

 

“Is… is she dead?” Jeongyeon asked with a hand on Nayeon’s cheek.

 

“I don’t think so,” Solji walked over to the short haired woman. “The pain of the Daedra leaving her body must have been too much for her to handle. We will move her to the Hall of Countenance.” Solji waved her hand over Nayeon just as Momo had done and the body began floating into the air.

 

~ ~ ~

 

“I can’t believe I didn’t know she was Im Nayeon.”

 

Jeongyeon sat next to the unconscious woman with her head in her hands. She had been allowed to stay at the college until Momo woke to explain what happened. She requested to stay by Nayeon’s side until then, but Sowon felt it dangerous to be with her alone. The advisor allowed Jeongyeon to stay with her as long as Seulgi was in the room.

 

“It’s alright Jeongyeon, I don’t blame you for helping someone who needed it.” Seulgi sat on the other side of the room reading an aged book.

 

“She wasn’t all… demonic when I found her. She was small and fragile. Her eyes weren’t glowing green, they were… the most beautiful tone of hazel I had ever seen.”

 

Seulgi looked away from her book to see Jeongyeon’s hand wrapped around Nayeon’s limp and pale one.

 

“I gave her an apple and… she ate it like she had never eaten something so delicious in her life. Her laugh is loud and infectious. And her giggle, ahh, it’s the cutest giggle to ever exist.”

 

“Sounds like she really wooed you.”

 

“But that’s the problem, she’s so… captivating. I didn’t even know her name and I dropped everything I was doing for her. To take her here, I bought a horse and rode through snow for four hours. All because she made me feel warm and fuzzy inside.”

 

“I guess finding out that she was under possession of the Daedric Lord of Domination really shocked you.”

 

“Yeah… but it was kind of hot. The way she and Momo smashed through that window and fought along the railing in the snow. Not all the blood though, that was gross.”

 

“You’re right… Momo was pretty hot up there.”

 

“What?”

 

“What?”

 

~ ~ ~


	12. The Last Dragonborn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The mysterious return of the dragons and the discovery of the Last Dragonborn marks the end of the 4th era. And the new era begins with the fight for the species. 
> 
> Grand finale has a grand total of 7594 words (longest chapter yet).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is... the last chapter of a story that has been in my mind for the last year and a half. Thank you for reading this crazy thing and being patient with this sorry excuse of a person. Writing is difficult and I learned that the hard way.
> 
> Thank you again and I hope you enjoy.

 

~ ~ ~

 

 

News of the dragon attack on Markarth spread like wildfire. Everyone in the county soon knew of the charred city. From the dry southern woodlands of the Rift to the frozen shores of the northern holds, many sent recovery groups by carriage to help survivors. Over the course of a week, the city was soon busy with life again. Families were cleaning up the streets and rebuilding their homes while guards were constantly called to aid. For the smallest amount of time, there was no discrimination. The rich and the poor worked side by side to bring their city back to its glorious state.

 

Markarth was the first city to be attacked, but that didn’t mean it was the last. News of another dragon attack made its way to the city of Whiterun. A soot-covered guard had stumbled his way into the great hall of Dragons Reach. He bore news of a failed prisoner execution up in the town of Helgen.

 

The moderately-sized community in the Falkreath Hold had been in temporary occupation of the military. The town was close to the border, making it an effective place to host the executions when a patrol would catch people illegally crossing the border. Most captured were war activists or criminals. But all captured were loaded into carriages and taken to Helgen, where they would be read their crimes and then taken to the chopping block.

 

It was during one of these executions that a roar echoed over the town. Many stopped what they were doing, even the executioner, to look up into the sky where the noise had come from.

 

"What was that?"

 

"It's nothing. Carry on."

 

"Yes, General. Give them their last rites."

 

Another roar, this time louder, rumbled through the town and a large shadow passed over the execution.

 

"What in Oblivion is that?"

 

"Sentries! What do you see?"

 

"It's in the clouds!"

 

Everyone screamed as huge black wings spread above. People ran as white-hot fire filled the streets of Helgen. Guards nocked their bows and raised their swords while the beast soared overhead.

 

"This way! Come on!"

 

"Keep your eyes on it!"

 

"How in Oblivion do we kill this thing?"

 

Residents watching the execution fled back to their homes as those fighting the beast were either burned, eaten, or torn to shreds by dark ebony claws. Cries of pain filled the air as the flames rose higher.

 

"It's still coming!"

 

"By the gods! Nothing kills it!"

 

"Die! For the love of the gods, die!"

 

With the execution halted and the town in chaos, many of the remaining convicts tried to escape the town but their sprinting bodies eventually lay in fallen, charred, and surrounded in flames. The town of Helgen soon lay in ruin as the wooden buildings burned bright and the stone towers crumbled under the weight of the winged attacker. The few that managed to escape the walls of the burning town fled down the hillside towards the trees. One by one, the dragon snatched them up with its claws, tossing them into the air only to let their bodies come crashing back down.

 

The only person to survive the Helgen attack was a single guard. His helmet had flown off as he was tossed against a stone wall and fell into a pile of charred bodies. He escaped into the trees and ran all the way to Whiterun, the nearest city.

 

Whiterun had shut its gate and doubled its number of guards when they received news of the Markarth attack, but the gate was opened for the lone survivor when he told them Helgen was just attacked and he was the only one to survive. The city guard led him up through the city into Dragons Reach to speak with the Jarl. He warned the Jarl and his court of the attack on Helgen and how the dragon was last seen flying into the mountains towards Winterhold.

 

 

~ ~ ~

 

 

Soft. The bed was soft and warm. So nice and something she wasn’t used to. Heat enveloped her body as she lay wrapped in thick fur blankets. Nayeon slowly woke from her slumber to find herself tucked into piles of soft blankets and cushiony pillows. She doesn’t remember the last time she had slept on an actual bed, her memories were filled the remnants of cold stone and echoing darkness.

 

Her vision was blurry when she opened her eyes. The orange light from the flickering candles dimly lit the room, allowing Nayeon to barely make out her surroundings. Straight ahead of her was the most blurry, leading Nayeon to assume that there was an opening ahead of her. To her left stood a tall wardrobe as well as a small table with a candle flickering in the room. A small chair was on her left side as well as another small table.

 

To clear her blurry vision, Nayeon tried to reach her hand up to rub her eyes. However, there seemed to be someone holding her hand down. Confused, Nayeon blinked a few more times until she could make out a figure slouching in the chair. The person must have fallen asleep when they were watching over her. To make sure she didn’t hurt anyone else.

 

Out of all the times Nayeon had lost control of her body, her fight with the Archmage had to be the worst. She remembers the sensation of landing on stone and then everything was green. She tried to stop herself, but no matter what she did, nothing worked. Being forced to watch as she tossed the woman around her own room before eventually flinging her through a glass window.

 

The out of body experience wasn’t foreign, she had been feeling it for the past nine years. He used her like a puppet; somedays she was free to walk through the countryside observing the landscape, others she was stabbing decapitated heads onto sticks. Even in prison, Nayeon could feel the presence of Molag Bal.

 

But watching her own hand stab ice into the very person who was trying to liberate her was gruesome. It had been years since she had lost complete control like that and the feeling wasn’t welcome. Watching as Molag Bal used her body to throw the Archmage around like a rag doll until she was a bloody mess was one of the many things she wishes she could forget. But no, she had a front-row seat.

 

Slowly her vision became less and less blurry until she could make out who was holding onto her: sharp jawline, dark shoulder length hair, extremely squish-able cheeks.

 

“Jeongyeon?” Nayeon’s voice was weak from lack of use.

 

“Jeongyeon?” She called out again, squeezing their intertwined hands.

 

Nayeon watched the blacksmith groan and shift in her chair from one uncomfortable potion to another. With a sigh, Nayeon sat up and reached her free hand behind her. She grabbed her pillow and swung it at the sleeping woman.

 

“AAahahH!” Jeongyeon flailed out of her chair onto the stone floor with a thud.

 

Her head popped up over the edge of the bed and she looked up at Nayeon.

 

“What the fu- Nayeon?” Jeongyeon scrunched her forehead.

 

“Uhh… Hi” Jeongyeon stared up at Nayeon from her spot on the floor.

 

“Oh thank the gods! You’re awake.” She crawled on her knees closer to the bed and grabbed Nayeon’s hand again.

 

The blacksmith lowered her head onto their intertwined hands, resting her forehead against them. Nayeon’s heart soared at the sight of the shorthaired woman’s antics. She felt Jeongyeon’s grip tighten and tears begin to fall onto her skin.

 

“Hey,” Nayeon lifted Jeongyeon’s chin to meet her gaze, “don’t cry. I’m fine.”

 

“I was so worried about you. You’ve been asleep for almost a week.” Tears trailed down Jeongyeon’s cheeks, her little button nose red from crying.

 

“Well, I’m awake now. Thank you for everything, Jeongyeon. You saved my life.” Nayeon used her thumb to gently wipe away the tears running down from Jeongyeon’s eyes.

 

Those eyes were the first thing Nayeon saw when she met the blacksmith. Soft brown orbs stared back at her and she, for the first time in a long time, felt warm. She believed she was forever cold. That not even the hottest fire could melt her. That Molag Bal had taken everything human from her. But she was wrong.

 

Then it hit her.

 

“You… you called me Nayeon.” She tried to remove her hand from Jeongyeon’s grasp but failed when the blacksmith squeezed her hand tighter.

 

“Well, that’s your name isn’t it.”

 

“And… if I say yes?”

 

“Then you’re Nayeon. The girl who I found wandering along the side of the road. The girl who refused to let me help her because she thought she would hurt me. The girl who I dropped everything for.” Jeongyeon gently brought their hands to her lips and kissed Nayeon’s hand, “The girl I fell in love with.”

 

 

~ ~ ~

 

 

Mina and Tzuyu sat in the library. The newly graduated bard had insisted she help Mina with any sort of research on dragons. With many more sightings of the giant reptiles, The college mage began to believe that the dragons had really returned. But what made them come back? Why disappear only to come back centuries later?

 

Throughout the week, Mina and Tzuyu had successfully found three novels mentioning dragons. _Dragon Language: Myth no More_ , a book Tzuyu had requested be sent from the Bards College that she had remembered reading. The novel was written by an old bard who recounts her travels across the country in search of Word Walls and outlines her theories on how dragons communicated.

 

 _The Book of the Dragonborn_ , found buried under a pile of ancient history books, the novel described the term Dragonborn as well as mentioning the prophecy once more. Dragonborns' were mortals gifted the power of dragons. They could absorb a dragon’s power after killing it, which is why most became dragon slayers.

 

But the most helpful piece of writing the two had found was _The Annals of the Dragonguard, 2813_. With multiple mentions of a temple and a prophecy, the two quickly flipped through the pages until they found an ink-drawn version of the prophecy. Under the image were two words: _Alduin’s wall_

 

With a bit more research into those three books, the two found that name quite a few more times. _Alduin_. He was a great and powerful dragon that was set on eliminating all humans. However, he was defeated on top of the Throat of The World when three Dragonborn shouted him out of existence.

 

“What is… shouting?” Mina asked as she read over the passage a few more times.

 

“Dragon language,” Tzuyu said from across the room. The younger woman was taking a break from reading and sat in a leather chair eating some bread.

 

“And you know this how?” Mina closed the dusty book and walked over to join Tzuyu.

 

“Chaeyoung explained how when two dragons would fight, they were actually having a battle of words. They created their ancient magic by speaking. Sound familiar? It should because it is the exact same language that the Graybeards speak.” The young bard said before taking a large bite of her bread.

 

“When did she tell you this?” Mina felt a little hurt that her new smallest friend had kept this information from her.

 

“Last night, when the book from the Bards College finally got here. I mentioned to Chaeyoung how we found some more information about dragon language and she explained how dragons don’t actually just spit fire from their mouths, they speak it.”

 

“Woah.” Mina leaned back in the chair next to Tzuyu with her mouth hung open in awe.

 

“Yeah, pretty cool right.” Tzuyu broke off a piece of her bread and pushed into Mina’s open mouth causing the mage to laugh and almost choke on the bread. She playfully slapped Tzuyu’s shoulder and the two continued to sit and eat their bread.

 

“Well,” Mina coughed out, “when Momo wakes up, we can tell her about Alduin’s Wall and everything else we found. She should be waking up any day now. Her neck is almost completely healed thanks to Seulgi, but I’m afraid there will be scars left from the burns. Nayeon did use Daedric magic during their fight.”

 

“I’m still a bit confused on the whole Im Nayeon ordeal.” Tzuyu leaned back in her chair.

 

“I’m sure Momo will explain everything once she wakes up.”

 

 

~ ~ ~

 

 

Soldiers patrolled along the outer wall of the fortress, their leather uniforms covered in fresh snowflakes. The stone structure was built at the bottom of the mountainside and jutted out against the horizon of white, making Fort Kastav stand out, even in the heavy snowfall. It was located along a mountain pass north of Windhelm and south along the main road that travels from Windhelm to Winterhold.

 

The military base was currently occupied by Imperial militant force, however many of the countries residents don’t agree with the laws the Empire has forced on their country. Those who defy the Imperial legion call themselves Stormcloaks and fight for the freedom of their country. (Oh, did I forget to mention that the country is in the middle of a civil war? Oops, my bad.)

 

"Helgen... destroyed by a dragon. Hard to believe, isn't it?"

 

“Yeah, first Markarth now Helgen.”

 

“For a dragon to attack Helgen… Why? Why there? Is there no safe place?”

 

A group of imperial soldiers stood along the stone ledge of the fortress. The men had been on duty for hours and were becoming restless and their shifts grew to a close.

 

"I'd be a lot warmer and a lot happier with a bellyful of mead..."

 

"My cousin's out fighting dragons, and what do I get? Guard duty."

 

"Just a few more hours and I can crawl under some furs..."

 

All was silent as the day wore on. Nothing crossed the barren plain of white. Every once in a while a rabbit could be seen hopping through the snow looking for food, or a flock of small birds would land on a snow-covered tree branch but nothing more. It wasn’t until the sun began to dip under the mountain tops that something caught the soldiers eyes.

 

“What was that?”

 

“What was what?”

 

That dark shape… to the north.”

 

One of the soldiers drew his sword and carried a lit torch across the undisturbed snow. He had walked all the way to the mountain edge before turning around to call out to the others watching him.

 

“I guess it was just my imagination.”

 

“You’re exhausted Tae, get back here and clear your head.”

 

“Our shifts are almost over anyway.”

 

The soldier was almost back to the entrance of the fort when a low rumble was heard further up the mountain. Chunks of ice and rock tumbled down the side and crashed into the snow, causing the powder to fly up into the air.

 

"You hear that?”

 

“I swear, there's something up there.”

 

“What’s going on out here?”

 

All the leather-clad soldiers turned and saluted a man dressed in steel armor. The General had come out of the main structure of the fort after the mountain had rumbled. A permanent frown etched on his face

 

“Something is going on near the mountain, Sir”

 

“Who’s that out there right now?”

 

“Lee Taeyong Sir.”

 

The soldier outside the fort had stopped pushing through the snow and now faced the mountain again. With his torch raised high, Taeyong squinted through the snowfall trying to see anything suspicious. Another loud rumble echoed down the mountainside and more snow tumbled down. Something dark caught the General’s eye.

 

“Taeyong! Get back!”

 

“What?”

 

“DRAGON!”

 

Taeyong quickly spun around to face the sky. He raised his torch to try to spot the dragon, but the light disappeared as razor-sharp teeth clamped down on his shoulder. He was thrown up into the air with a single jerk of the beast’s head, screaming as he fell into its open jaws.

 

 

~ ~ ~

 

 

The first thing she felt was a cold breeze across her face. Eyes still closed, Momo scrunched her face at the un-welcomed temperature shift. The cool air gently floating in through the room was dramatically different compared to the pocket of heat under the covers. Momo found herself tucked into a cocoon of fur blankets. The warmth working wonders on her sore body.

 

The first thing she heard was laughter. Filtering in through the window, Dahyun’s familiar cackle could be heard down in the courtyard as she played in the snow with her newest friend, Chaeyoung. The two had been outside for hours wrapped in enchanted robes to keep out the cold. They had built their own walls of snow and engaged in one of the longest snow fights the college residents had seen in a long time. The two were clearly not used to this much snow and were enjoying the experience.

 

The first thing she smelt was cinnamon. The scent enveloped her room in a wonderfully sweet aroma. One tempting enough for the Archmage to consider opening her eyes. She knew that smell, it was from her favorite pastry she and Seulgi would always ask the kitchen to make whenever they were craving sweets. She could picture the white frosting dripping down the sides of the cinnamon orange dough.

 

The first thing she saw when she opened her eyes was Seulgi. She sat in a leather chair against the sectioning wall, a plate with two sweet rolls in-front of her. The dark haired mage had her head rested again the stone with her own mono-lid eyes closed. The angle made her cheeks bulge out in the cutest way.

 

The first thing she tasted was sweet frosting, but not from the pastry, from Seulgi’s pouted lips. The sleeping mage had a bit of frosting left on the corner of her mouth. However the mono-lid mage didn’t wake from the kiss, instead, she let out a small snore.

 

“Maybe it’s better this way,” was the first thing Momo said.

 

Momo sat across from her sleeping companion and dug into the sweet roll. The Archmage felt as though she hadn’t eaten in a week, her stomach was making rumbling noises that could rival an avalanche. She only nudged Seulgi awake once she finished her delicious pastry.

 

“Good evening sleepy-head.” Momo used her fork to cut into the other mage’s sweet roll.

 

“Hmmmm.”

 

“These sweets are delicious.”

 

“Hmmmm?”

 

“If you don’t wake up soon… yours will be gone.”

 

“Hmmmm!”

 

Seulgi’s head shot off the wall and her eyes were wide. She had moved so fast, the momentum knocked her out of her chair onto the stone floor.

 

“Momo?”

 

“The bear wakes”

 

“Oh! Thank the gods! Momo, I’m so glad you’re alright.” Seulgi leapt to her feet and pulled the Archmage into a powerful hug.

 

“Yes, yes. But if you keep squishing me like this, I might pass out again.” Seulgi immediately released her grip on the younger but her smile stayed locked in place.

 

“I was so worried you weren’t going to wake up. Nayeon really did a number on you.” Seulgi held one of Momo’s small hand in her own while her free one reached up to her neck. The skin along her throat was still rough and bruised from the fight.

 

“That was the worst one. But it’s almost completely healed now, along with those burns.” Momo raised her arms to get a good look at herself.

 

The restoration spell Seulgi cast had completely healed the wounds. However since Daedric magic inflicted the damage, the wounds left long scars running across her arms towards her neck and spreading across her chest. She still felt sore from her fall into the courtyard, but the pain was not enough to hinder her from moving.

 

“I know that you just woke up but… the others have been waiting for an explanation… of the fight, and the whole… Im Nayeon thing.”

 

“Of course, call everyone to the Hall of Elements. I need to address the whole college.”

 

 

~ ~ ~

 

 

Students and staff filled the circular room up to the brim, there were even people standing in the entryway waiting to hear the news from their Archmage. Dahyun found herself near the front of the room next to Mina and Jihyo. Behind her stood Tzuyu while Chaeyoung sat on top of her friend’s shoulders. Nayeon and Momo stood on the edge of the magical fountain in the middle of the room while Jeongyeon and Seulgi were by their sides.

 

“Attention! Attention, everyone!” Although she had just woken up, Momo’s powerful voice quieted down the murmurs inside the hall. “I would like to explain what happened on college grounds a week ago.”

 

For a few moments, the hall filled with murmurs once more but quieted down when Momo raised her hand.

 

“This,” Momo gestured to Nayeon, “is Im Nayeon. She has been under Daedric possession for the past nine years. But not just any Daedra… no, she had been used by none other than the Daedric Lord of Domination, Molag Bal.”

 

This time the hall was filled with gasps and many gave Nayeon a sad look.

 

“What happened last week was an exorcism turned violent. Nayeon has since been freed of the Daedra and, I hope, you all can understand that this Im Nayeon is not the emotionless murder she was portrayed to be. No, this woman is a normal human. Just like you and me… and she deserves every right to a new life. One that is not based on her previous actions. That is why I am giving her the option of attending this college. I want her to be free to do what she wants… not what others force her to do. If anyone has a problem with my decision, come see me in the Archaeneum. You are dismissed.”

 

Seulgi and Jeongyeon helped the two down from the ledge and the four waited for the crowd to clear. Mina and Dahyun smile at the four before leaving for the Archaeneum. Chaeyoung, Tzuyu, and Jihyo followed the two up the steps as well. Once everyone was inside the library, Nayeon broke into tears.

 

“Thank you *hick* Momo. I don’t know *hick* what to say.” Nayeon covered her face with her hands and continued crying into Jeongyeon’s side.

 

“You can say whatever you want, Nayeon.” Momo rubbed slow circles against the older woman’s back.

 

The nine sat in comfortable silence for a while. No students nor staff came into the library to protest Nayeon’s stay. And those who did come to the library to study simply smiled at the group and happily waved at them. The silence was disturbed by a loud snore drawing everyone’s attention to the sleeping thief that lay across Mina’s lap. The group smiled and laughed at snoring woman. She normally tried to portray herself as a tough and intimidating person but watching her now, the pale thief was everything but tough and intimidating.

 

“Momo!”

 

Everyone turned again watched a frantic and slightly snow covered Solji burst into the Archaeneum. The fiery-haired mage waved a letter in her hand as she quickly crossed the room towards the group of women.

 

“An urgent letter has been sent from Fort Kastav. They are under attack by a dragon and are requesting aid.”

 

 

~ ~ ~

 

 

“No.”

 

“Why not!”

 

“No, you’re not going.”

 

“But Dahyun gets to go!”

 

“Both you and Tzuyu are staying here and that’s final.”

 

“Momo, that’s so unfair and you know it.”

 

“You’ll just get in the way.”

 

“No, we won’t! Tzuyu is a fantastic shot with a bow and I could help anyone who’s injured. Please Momo, let us come with you guys!”

 

“…No.”

 

“This is bullshit.” Chaeyoung crossed her arms and leaned against the stone wall of the ramp.

 

The Archmage was quick to jump into action when Solji came running into the library. Momo had told Mina and Seulgi to get ready for the trip leaving everyone else sitting awestruck in their seats. But Dahyun, not being one to be left out, was quick to protest. She claimed that they needed an extra pair of hands, but everyone knew she just wanted to make sure Mina was safe.

 

Momo allowed the small the small thief to go with them but then quickly left the library before anyone else could volunteer. Chaeyoung and Tzuyu both followed the Archmage down the spiral staircase trying to convince the mage to let them come as well. But now both bards found themselves watching the back of the carriage as it pulled the group out of the city.

 

“Chaeyoung,” Tzuyu leaned down towards her small friend.

 

“Yeah, Tzu?” Chaeyoung grumbled out.

 

“We’re going anyway… aren’t we.”

 

Chaeyoung turned to face her tall companion and winked. Tzuyu smirked and looked back at the carriage as it pulled out of view. Both women quickly ran back across the bridge and into the Hall of Attainment. Chaeyoung grabbed the enchanted robes the college provided for them while Tzuyu pulled her bow and quiver full of arrows onto her back.

 

“Let's go kill a dragon.”

 

 

~ ~ ~

 

 

“This is far enough, thank you.” Momo, Seulgi, Mina, and Dahyun all jumped out of the back of the carriage when a faint glow was visible in the distance. Momo didn’t want anyone else in danger so she quickly thanked the driver and sent him back to the city.

 

The surrounding mountain was eerily quiet. The only sound that could be heard was the crunch of the snow beneath their feet as they neared Fort Kastav. When the group had finally made it where the fortress was supposed to be, there were instead met with the burning remains of the structure.

 

The snow glowed orange as it reflected the brilliant flames rising up from the charred horse stables. The stone walls that were still standing had been covered in scorch marks, some of the embers still glistening in the darkness of the night. Charred soldiers littered the snow, the smoking bodies staining it pink.

 

One of the stone towers lay toppled in the snow. Large sections had been broken off as if a giant creature had landed on the tower, but the sudden weight caused the whole thing to collapse. A terrifying shape lay on top of the other tower. Dark black scales could be seen in the light of the flames. An ebony dragon lay asleep on top of the final tower, claiming the fortress as its own.

 

As the women slowly moved in on the wreckage, a hand reached out and grabbed onto Mina’s ankle. The mage barely held in a shriek of surprise and she was pulled to a stop. Eyes wide, the whole group turned to Mina to see her with one hand over her mouth and the other one pointing down towards her feet. One of the soldiers on the ground was barely conscious as he rolled over in the snow.

 

“Get back, it’s still here somewhere.” The man on the ground croaked out before falling face first in the snow, dead.

 

Mina knelt down and gave the others a terrified look as she pried his burned fingers off her leg. With a foreboding message from the dead soldier, the group continued towards the dragon and its fortress.

 

“So… what’s the plan?” Dahyun whispered as they observed the sleeping beast.

 

“We should spread out, find a safe place to hide when it wakes up, then attack all at once.” Momo thought out loud.

 

Mina and Dahyun quietly crept inside the destroyed walls and stationed themselves north of the dragon. A pile of fallen rubble protected them from a direct attack while two wide openings were on each side to provide a quick escape. Seulgi climbed over the fallen rubble until she stood in-between two large blocks of stone. She faced the dragon from the south and waited for Momo’s command to start the attack. Momo stared down the beast from the fallen tower to the west.

 

Seulgi, Mina and Dahyun watched Momo for further instructions. The Archmage took a deep breath and nodded at the women before engulfing her hands in electricity. Mina and Seulgi’s hands glowed light blue as they readied their ice magic. Dahyun silently knocked an arrow in her bow and drew back the string, aiming at the neck of the dragon.

 

All four women released an onslaught of attacks at the sleeping beast, waking it up with a deafening roar. It stood on its giant hind legs and spread its dark wings. The wingspan covered almost half the fort and the beast narrowed its eyes at Seulgi. With a few simple flaps of its giant wings, the dragon took to the sky and created a draft that caused the four women to stumble back.

 

“It’s huge!” Dahyun yelled out and continued firing arrows at the beast circle around them.

 

“Its also bleeding! Keep your eyes on it don’t let it out of your sight.” Momo called out as she climbed over the fallen tower into the snow outside the fortress. She ran along the outer-wall keeping her eyes glued on the dragon. When it dropped lower in the sky to prepare to attack, Momo launched a barrage of lightning bolts. The beast cried out, stopped its descent, and rose back into the dark sky.

 

The dragon flew to the other side of the fortress and came to a stop right above Dahyun and Mina. The beast didn’t seem to know they were under it because its giant amber eyes were staring straight at Seulgi.

 

“YOL TOOR SHUL!” A blast of bright flames erupted from the mouth of the dragon right at the mage.

 

Seulgi had been quick enough to cast a ward, but the edges of the magical shield quickly cracked under the force of the powerful magic. She dove to the side and hid behind a pile of rubble as the ward shattered and the flames surrounded where she just stood.

 

Mina’s eyes glowed blue as she launched a spinning ball of ice and wind up at the dragon’s underside while Dahyun released arrow after arrow. Caught off guard from the attack, the dragon flailed for a moment before flying off once more. Dahyun quickly jumped over a pile of stone and ran across the fortress to find Seulgi. She found the mage leaning against the pile of rubble she hid behind and breathing heavily.

 

“Are you okay?” Dahyun knelt down and quickly scanned her for injuries. 

 

“I’m fine, just… shocked.” Seulgi managed to say in-between breaths. A loud roar was heard overhead.

 

“Okay, stay here.” Dahyun readied her bow again and kept her eyes on the sky as she left the mage to recover.

 

Momo had circled around the edge of the wall and began scaling up the side of the tower. The view from the top allowed her to see the entire ground level of the fortress as well as a clear view of the dragon circling above. Something seemed to have caught the dragon’s eye and it dove down towards the snow.

 

"Dahyun! Watch out!"

 

Dahyun was crossing the clearing back to Mina when a powerful gust of wind knocked her off her feet. She flew through the air and crashed into a mound of snow. The dragon had spread its giant wings and drifted to a stop in the air. When the beast landed the ground shook, knocking Dahyun back down into the snow.

 

She quickly flipped around to see two giant smoking nostrils in front of her. The dragon drew back its scaly lips to reveal rows of razor sharp teeth the size of Dahyun’s arm. The small thief was frozen with fear and couldn’t move. All she could do was stare at the opening jaws of the beast in front of her.

 

Right as the Dragon extended its long neck towards Dahyun, a spear of ice embedded itself deep into the dragon's throat. Mina stood a few meters away and was screaming as she threw ice spear after ice spear at the beast about to eat her girlfriend. The dragon reared on its hind legs as more ice buried itself under the black scales. Then a bolt of electricity struck it in the back of the head causing another loud screech of pain. Dahyun, now recovered, quickly knocked an arrow on her bow and aimed right where the dragons head met its neck and released. The arrow hit its mark, slicing into the soft undefended skin.

 

A loud screech of pain echoed throughout the mountainside and the dragon fell limp and crumpled in the snow. Maroon blood poured out from its neck and mouth. Its bright amber eyes staring blankly in the distance as the rise and fall of its torso stopped. The Mountainside was quiet once more. 

 

“I can’t believe it... we just killed a dragon.” Dahyun fell back into the pile of snow and let out an airy laugh.

 

Mina circled around the giant dead dragon and fell into the snow next to Dahyun.

 

“Never scare me like that again.” Mina pulled her into a tight hug, burying her face in the crook of Dahyun’s neck.

 

“I don’t know, I forget how hot you get when you’re mad.” Dahyun pecked a kiss on Mina’s forehead.

 

“Don’t joke with me right now Kim Dahyun.” Mina squeezed her tighter. Dahyun smiled into her girlfriend and pulled her closer.

 

Meanwhile, Momo had jumped down from the tower into the snow below and rushed to find Seulgi. The last she had seen of her was when the fight first began. She found the mage with her eyes closed and leaning against a pile of rubble.

 

“Seulgi?” Momo worriedly asked the slouching woman. When she got no response, she took Seulgi’s head into her hands. “Talk to me Seul.”

 

“I’m awake… just resting my eyes.” Seulgi’s voice was quiet.

 

“What happened?”

 

“Fire Breath. I put up a ward, but it took a lot out of me to defend against that powerful of magic.” Seulgi opened her eyes to see a worried Momo looking down at her.

 

“Well, we killed it… do you want to see?” Seulgi nodded her head and Momo helped lift her up.

 

Momo supported the mage with an arm around her waist and the two made their way to the fallen dragon. The four surrounded the corpse in silence and took in the sight. The huge mass of ebony colored scales lay lifeless in the snow. The dragon’s mouth was stuck in the open position, displaying the giant fangs for the women to gawk at. Momo ran her hand along one of the scales. The piece of skin was bigger than her hand and harder than iron.

 

Low rumbling noises from above made her jerk her hand away and face the mountain. They watched rocks and snow slide down the sides of the cliff. Something huge shot out of the clouds.

 

“No way.”

 

The four watched another dragon glide down from the sky. The great beast landed on the very same tower the previous dragon had been sleeping on, however, this golden scaled dragon was almost twice the size. its eyes were a bright sapphire and had two twisting horns extending out of its enormous head. The slits of its eyes narrowed as it watched the women below.

 

“FO KRAH DIIN!” The golden dragon spread its wings as a beam of ice blasted out of its mouth.

 

“Run!”

 

Everyone dove out of the way as the beam of smashed into the snow. It began moving through the snow trailing after Mina and Dahyun as the two ran for cover. Everything the ice magic came in contact with became encompassed in ice crystals. A path of solid ice followed them until the dragon closed its mouth.

 

When Mina and Dahyun turned around they found themselves trapped in-between stone and dragon ice. The two quickly cast fireballs against the ice but had they no effect on the dragon’s magic. The two were stuck inside leaving Momo and Seulgi to fight the beast alone.

 

“Momo! We’re stuck!” Dahyun called out to the Archmage hoping that she had some way of freeing them.

 

“Just hold on I’ll get you-“ Momo’s voice is drowned out by dragon’s deep roar.

 

“FEN NI FILOK” The dragon seemed to be cursing at Momo and Seulgi as the two ran in different directions.

 

The giant golden beast chose to pursue Momo and used the hooks on the end of its wings to climb down from the tower and chase after the Archmage. The dragon seemed to have been watching the previous fight because it refused to take flight, knowing the mages would attack its exposed underside if it did.

 

Momo ran through the snow sending bolts of electricity randomly behind her to keep a gap between her and the beast.

 

“FO KRAH DIIN!” She heard a sharp intake of breath behind her and dove behind a pile of stone. A beam of ice shot past her and a wall further ahead became covered in ice.  


She quickly rose from the snow and ran towards one of the holes smashed into the wall. As she jumped through the gap a strong gust of wind threw her further into the snow. She skidded to a halt in the previously undisturbed blanket of white and turned to face her attacker. The dragon was quick to climb over the stone wall and smashed its way through the snow.

 

She ended up face to face with the golden dragon. It’s sapphire eyes staring down at her. The beast let out a powerful exhale and a cold stream of air shot out of its nostrils, wildly blowing the Archmage’s hair around. Extending its neck, the dragon bit down on Momo’s leg with its powerful teeth and lifted her up into the air.

 

"AaaHHAH!"

 

Seulgi had turned to see the dragon climbing over the wall and turned to chase after it. When she had leapt through the gap in the wall, she was horrified to see Momo, screaming and dangling from its jaws. She launched ice at the dragon but the magic shattered against its golden scales.

 

“Use fire magic!” Momo cried out as she swayed in its mouth. The dragon turned to face the other mage and growled at her. Seulgi engulfed her hands in fire and blasted a stream of fire at its body, careful not to hit Momo.

 

The dragon let out a painful snort and narrowed its eyes at Seulgi. It swung its head and let go of Momo’s leg. The Archmage flew through the air towards some nearby trees and smashed into the snowy trunk. She fell unconscious into the powder below and was buried under the snow falling off the branches.

 

"No!"

 

Seulgi watched in horror as Momo disappeared into the darkness but she had to act fast because the dragon began stomping its way over to her.

 

“BOLOG AAZ, MAL LIR!” The dragon sneered at her.

 

Seulgi stumbled backwards and fell off the pile of stone. She landed on the solid ground with a thud and her breath was knocked out of her. She lay gasping for air as the ground shook under the weight of the dragon. Right as the dragon’s golden head tower over her, an arrow lodged itself one of its sapphire eyes. The beast let out a screech of pain as it recoiled backwards.

 

Seulgi felt someone pulling her away from the wall and she turned her head to see Chaeyoung dragging her through the snow to safety.

 

Another roar bellowed around the mountain as the dragon took to the sky. Four more arrows could be seen sticking out of the dragon’s face. The beast ascended higher and higher then took off into the darkness of the night.

 

When she could breathe properly again, Seulgi sat up to see Tzuyu climbing over the wall with a bow in her hands. Her brows furrowed in worry as she searched the fortress for the others.

 

“Over here Tzuyu!” Chaeyoung called out to her taller friend.

 

Chaeyoung had pulled Seulgi to a pile of rubble near the middle of the fortress and now stood at the dead body of the first dragon. She ran her hand along the giant scales and stared in awe at the great beast.

 

“Where’d it go?” Dahyun’s said from the top of a pile of stone. She reached her hand down into a hole and pulled Mina out of where the dragon had trapped them. “Where’s Momo?”

 

Both climbed down to meet the other three near the dead dragon.

 

“She was thrown into the woods, let’s go find her.” Seulgi stood with the help of Chaeyoung.

 

The four began to walk towards a gap in the wall but stopped when they realized Tzuyu wasn’t with them.

 

“What are you doing Tzu?” Chaeyoung asked with an arm wrapped around Seulgi holding her up.

 

No response.

 

“Tzuyu?”

 

Nothing. The four watched the tall bard drop her bow, shrug off her arrows, and slowly walk towards the dragon that lay in the snow.

 

“Ko dinok you tinvaak. Aan dovah soul wah ofan.” Tzuyu muttered out as she raised her hand.

 

She pressed her palm against the ebony scales and light began to spread out in-between each scale. The entire body glowed a dim yellow and orange flakes began to rise up into the night sky. Rays of bright magic burst out of the dragon and circled around Tzuyu surrounding her in light. Scales evaporated into the sky and soon only the dragon's skeleton remained, laying in the same position it died in.

 

All the mages could see was the ball of pulsing light drop to the ground as Tzuyu fell to her knees. The glowing magic became too bright for the others to watch and they were forced to look away as it got bigger and bigger. They heard a scream as the magic worked its way into Tzuyu, the energy flowing through her veins. The ball of glowing energy suddenly stopped spinning and shrunk smaller and smaller until it disappeared with a final flash of light. All the dragon's energy had been absorbed into Tzuyu's body. The others uncovered their eyes to see Tzuyu kneeling on the ground with a blank look on her face.

 

Chaeyoung was quick to run over to her best friend and see if she was okay. The two faced each other on their knees, Chaeyoung with wide worried eyes and Tzuyu with glassy ones.

 

“Come on Tzu… come back to me.” Chaeyoung raised Tzuyu’s head in her hands trying to get the younger to focus on her.

 

“DOVAHKIIN.” the mountain above them shook with such a force that sections of snow fell loose.

 

“What was that!” Dahyun looked up at the mountain in fear.

 

“That was the Greybeards.” Chaeyoung now held Tzuyu against her, the taller was still glassy-eyed and unmoving.

 

“What? I thought you said they don’t speak?” Dahyun was confused by the whole situation.

 

“They don’t… so I don’t know what’s going on.” Chaeyoung looked up at the women.

 

“I do.” A limping Momo staggered into view of the others with her hand pressed against her ribs. Dry blood trailed from her mouth and one of her ears and her lower leg was surrounded in a veil of blue transparent magic. She continued limping over to the two in kneeling in the snow and looked into Tzuyu’s eyes.

 

“Tzuyu is a Dragonborn… the Last Dragonborn." everyone gasped and watched Tzuyu come back to reality in Chaeyoung's arms.

 

The Dragonborn was released by Chaeyoung and stood to face the others. From first glance, she looked the same, but then some new features began to stand out. If possible, she had become taller and her body was more toned then before. Bicep and tricep muscles bulged slightly in her robes and her shoulders had become broader. Her once dark hair had lightened to a warm chestnut color and her brown eyes now glowed gold while her pupils resembled those of a reptile.

 

She gazed down at her own hands and felt the rougher skin. Tzuyu looked up at the women taking in her new appearance. Not knowing what to say or do, she let out an airy laugh and a small smile. Their eyes widened and Chaeyoung pointed at her teeth. She ran her tongue along the inside of her mouth feeling the sharp and elongated canines.

 

"What just happened?" Tzuyu asked, her voice slightly deeper than before.

 

"You absorbed the dragon's soul," Momo smiled up at the Last Dragonborn, "You now have the power of a dragon."

 

"Does that mean she can fly and breath fire?" Dahyun excitedly asked the Archmage.

 

"Flying? no, but breathing fire... probably."

 

"Hold on... let me try something." Tzuyu faced away from the group and towards one of the walls.

 

"YOL!" The Dragonborn's eyes flashed a deep red and a sphere of pulsing fire formed in front of Tzuyu then flew towards the snowy wall. The stone glowed a pale orange as the heat of the magical fire burned the wall.

 

"Did you see that!" Tzuyu jumped up and down then turned to face the others smiling, showing off her sharp canines.

 

"You really are the Dragonborn." Mina looked at Tzuyu and the burnt wall in awe.

 

"Hell yeah! My best friend is a dragon!" Chaeyoung ran forward and leapt into Tzuyu's arms. The Dragonborn easily caught her with her new strength and held her small friend in the air.

 

"You know what this means... don't you." Momo's serious voice wiped the smiles off everyone's faces.

 

"It's time for the Fight of the Species... Dragons verse Humans.”

 

 

~ ~ ~

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BUM BUM BUM!
> 
> The end? For now yes.  
> Maybe... I might make a connected story where Sana meets her crazy crew or something else, but we'll see.
> 
> (And just so you know, I set up the ending so if you play the actual game it's like the first time your character become a Dragonborn. Not as cool as Tzuyu's way tho... so)

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave comments telling me what you think.


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